


Make My World Go Black

by Po_ta_toes



Category: Mag 7 - Fandom, The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Black - Dierks Bentley, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Dierks Bentley song, F/M, Godless Crossover, Implied Relationships, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Joshua Faraday/Vasquez - Freeform, M/M, Minor Goodnight Robicheaux/Billy Rocks, Minor Joshua Faraday/Vasquez, Not Really AU, Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2020-05-28 16:01:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 93,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19397521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Po_ta_toes/pseuds/Po_ta_toes
Summary: The Magnificent Seven was not yet whole until Sam Chisolm recalls saving a young woman's life way back, and how she could be helpful if she chose to accept the task. He hopes to recruit her in his little army of strays and save Rose Creek but didn't intend on Joshua Faraday to be tempted into being her possible first victim."Where she's from they call her Miss Persuasion. But before all that, I just knew her as Matilda Crawford. She's strong-hearted and good with a gun. She would be an excellent choice for recruitment.""...Anyone ever calls her Tilda or Tilly?""Once. They never got to live long enough to say it again."





	1. Chapter 1

"Let me get this straight. You want ALL of the land. Not a portion of it."

The scruffy beard of the man was aimed in all directions, as Matilda noticed. From her spot at the table across from him, he looked to be in his mid-thirties. He had the tendency to sweat whenever he was nervous, not because of the heat, as she's been told. His fingers tapped against the wood while flicking his eyes at hers every once in a while, then quickly goes back to avoid them. She had her arms and legs crossed, leaning back more comfortably in her chair than her friend was. Her hat dipped over her long light brown hair and covered her bright eyes, the dark shade of the room with little light made him incapable to read what those eyes read. A mischievous smile graced her lips. She was enjoying how much she made the man nervous with her odd pants and vest, a look not many women wear in these parts.

"That's what I said."

"I'm afraid I can't do that for you."

"And why's that?" She tilts her head, her tongue darts out to lick her lips, a glint of entertainment in her eyes.

"Well, I-!"

"I have the right amount of money you've had offered to everyone else. What makes this time so different?"

"Well, because-!"

"Because I'm a woman?"

His whole form stiffens and his lips tighten into a straight line. Surprisingly, Matilda is completely comfortable, despite the silence and chuckles in amusement, "Mister, please, tell me something I've _haven't_ been told before."

"Now now, I never said a woman couldn't own property." He finally gains the strength to stand up for himself, still not working up enough courage to do anything but stutter, however, "A ton of women do! It's just that... those women who do own land, usually get it passed down from their dead husbands. And since you're no longer married and because your dead husband didn't own any land-!"

If he wasn't uncomfortable with how laid back and understanding she seemed, he definitely was now after her eyes suddenly squint in acknowledgment and irritation to that comment, "I was divorced before he was killed. I ain't no widow." Her tone flattens.

"Y-Yes miss."

"So here's how I'm going to persuade you, Mister _Dickens_." She draws out the last word, almost like an insult.

"M-My name is Mister Darwin-!"

There's a familiar click from underneath the table and the man almost lets out a meek squeal of fright, the whole room felt as if it had gone silent. Matilda's lips twitch up into a sadistic smile as she pulls out a gun from underneath the table, "I don't pull the trigger, and you don't lose those future children of yours, how's that sound?"

No other words needed to be said as Mister Darwin finally pulls out parchment and a pen, and in response she flips her hair behind her shoulder, sighing and smiling kindly out of satisfaction as if the last couple of seconds never even happened. "Thank you," she spoke sincerely and signs the contract.

She steps out of the stuffy cabin a few moments later, standing outside the door as a laugh threatens to spill out as she replayed the look on his face in her mind. She shook her head in humorous disbelief and tucks the slip of paper into her pants.

"Did you set another deal in stone?"

She turned her head to the right to find a small, odd group of three people in hats standing at the edge of the porch, one, in particular, wearing all black gear and a sparkling smile caught her eye, and she smiles back in delight, "Sam Chisolm, as I live and breathe!"

The dark-skinned warrant officer laughs as she runs up to tackle him in a hug, his arms easily wrap all the way around her. They embrace for only a few moments and exchange a few laughs while they look over each other, seeing the age of how long it's been since they've seen each other through their eyes.

"Why do you keep buying land all over the countryside, Miss Crawford?" He asks with a smile and curiosity.

She acknowledges with a shrug, "To show my superiority of course. Not many expect a woman to be one of the richest people in the state. And besides, if I don't want it, I'll sell it. And I'll just gain all my riches back."

Sam laughs full-heartedly and gently grabs her shoulder and turns, extending his arm out to his two acquaintances behind him.

"This here is Vasquez,"

The other only man simply nods at his name, a cigar between his teeth. Matilda observes his Mexican features and has to bite back a laugh at the sight of his spurs at the heels of his boots. He had to be the only man she knew to wear those. They cause quite the sound, and from the look of his vigilant stance as he's leaning away from her and leaning against the railing, darting his eyes out to see if anyone noticed him, Vasquez is a man who doesn't wish to be found or heard of.

"And Emma Cullen," Sam finishes while pointing over to the only other woman, who reaches out to shake Matilda's hand, her worn, messy braided red hair dips over and spools over her shoulder as she did so.

"Ma'am." Matilda sternly greets and smiles while shaking her hand.

"She hired me, and I figured we could use someone like you." The warrant officer claps his hand on her shoulder again with a hint of pride in his voice.

"Say no more, any friend of Sam Chisolm is a friend of mine," Matilda says gently with the widest grin.

Vasquez scoffs, pointing his finger at Sam and Matilda, grinning cruelly through his scowl. "You forgot to mention to her how dangerous it will be, _cabrón_."

Matilda decides to ignore that comment, since she and Sam both know she could shoot that damn cigar out of that damn outlaw's mouth without hurting him, and continues to smile at Emma, "Now what exactly are we doing, Miss Emma?"

"Missus. And we're avenging the death of my husband by killing the man who shot him and took over our town." Her voice shook as she spoke sternly, but there was still fire behind it.

Matilda finds herself smiling softly in sympathy towards the other woman, and straightens her posture while leaning her hands over the two guns on either side of her hip, "I'm in. There's no need for persuasion here. That's _my_ job anyway. If there's one thing I hate most in this world, it's a rich son of a bitch who thinks he's better than anyone else."

"Persuasion? _Qué_?" Vasquez pushes himself from leaning over the railing and cautiously takes a step forward, " _Mierda_! I know who you are...you're who people call Miss Persuasion!"

She grins, "At your service."


	2. Chapter 2

"Bartholomew Bogue?" Matilda shrugs nonchalantly while galloping beside Vasquez, Sam trotting in front of her, explaining to her their current situation, "Can't say I've heard of him."

" _Sí_ ," the outlaw responds next to her, he bounces while his horse walks over rocky terrain, and then he digs out a new cigar, "Neither have I, _Morena_. But it surprises me that a businesswoman like yourself doesn't know about men just like you."

"One, that word better not be an insult," she glared back at his mock expression, "Two, I don't steal land. I buy land from people who are _selling_ it."

Vasquez scoffs, ignoring her for the moment while sticking the cigar in his mouth and fishes for the matches in his pockets. When his hand comes up empty, he makes a frustrated noise that made Matilda roll her eyes in annoyance and dig into her own pocket. Vasquez looks up just in time for Matilda to shove a match from her stash into his hand.

"Go on, now. I'm sharing my matches which by God better mean you're sharing those smokes of yours."

As Vasquez reluctantly handed over one of his precious cigars to Matilda, Sam stops his horse and Emma stares at him expectedly.

"We're here," he informs as they stood on top of a hill with a couple of trees at the very border of Junction City. "Faraday won't be back with more men until tomorrow afternoon at the latest, so we'll camp out and meet him here. Let's get the horses tied up and start a fire."

The others nod in agreement and dismount their horses. They tie them up to the trees and start a small fire, Vasquez making his presence forgotten as he sits farthest away from their warm light when the sun starts going down. He sits up the whole night, his back to the tree they used to tie up the horses in his paranoid state.

Matilda sits by the fire for some time, talking with Sam and catching each other up on their adventures. They laughed and exchange stories, talking like they've been friends for years.

"So you've been just traveling across states for land?" Sam questions.

"Eh, here and there."

"From the places you've told me you been, it sounds like you're trying to get away from something."

She paused, looking up from the fire and looking dead into Sam's eyes. He doesn't flinch. He knows better not to. When she looks away, she lowers her voice.

"Just because you saved me doesn't mean you can bring it up again."

"It's over, Matilda. It has been for a long time. You know that. So why are you still running?"

Matilda bites her lip, letting her eyes burn under the flames gaze then Sam's, "I've never been a fan of ghosts. That's what I'm running from."

They do this for a time before it hits midnight and Matilda lays down close to a sleeping Emma to collect some warmth from her new friend.

There's a sun beaming down through the trees and the small group wakes to the light of the afternoon, not realizing they had slept for so long. Even Vasquez ended up snoozing peacefully for a while after Sam went to sleep, so it gave him enough comfort to let his guard down.

Sam goes off to sit separately from the others, staring down at the ground while involuntarily reaching for his neck, like he was choking. Emma goes down the hill to a nearby creek to fetch some water. Vasquez finds himself brushing his hand over his horse's neck, whispering to it in his native language, clicking his tongue.

Suddenly the Appaloosa horse strapped to the tree next to him nudged her nose against his lower back and he fights the urge to jump in surprise. He turns to glare and curse at the beautiful white and black-spotted beast, his hand resting underneath his own stallion's head.

"Hey now, Nessie. Leave him be. He doesn't have your treats."

Vasquez looks up at the sudden realization that Nessie was Matilda's horse, and she walks up to it, smiling fondly while reaching into her bag to pull out an apple.

"Sorry about that, Vasquez. She gets picky when she's hungry. Doesn't care who's food she steals from. Damn beauty almost got me run out of town one time."

He grunts a reply and turns back to his horse, brushing his hand over the front of its nose. She chuckles in amusement and fed her horse the apple. Vasquez bothers to steal a quick glance back at the Appaloosa and her rider before realizing four figures on horses in the distance, trotting their way through the plain and towards their campsite.

He stands up straighter, whistling in a tone of caution, grabbing the rest of the group's attention. Sam stood and walked alongside Emma when she walked back up the hill. Vasquez and Matilda walk around the horses, furthest from the newcomers, the outlaw holding onto the butt of his gun expectedly. As the four horses drew closer, one of the older riders whooped in excitement.

"Sam Chisolm!"

"Goodnight Robicheaux." The bounty hunter replied, a wide smile on his usual stone face.

"Sight to see, even with a storm on our backs." The Angel of Death -Goodnight- dismounts from his horse, swinging over his leg gracefully and well-practiced.

"Yeah. Rain ain't nothing but wet." Sam recites happily, nearly breaking into laughter with such a wide smile.

"Well, what we lose in the fire we will find in the ashes."

"That's right." Sam finally laughs while bringing Goodnight in for a hug. They embrace but then part just as quick, Sam bringing his hand out to tilt the brim of Goodnight's hat forward over his eyes, then the Cajun turns his body to point at another rider who was also now on his feet.

"This is Billy Rocks. He's with me."

The man was smaller than Goodnight, younger possibly but still middle-aged at the very least. He was Korean, with a shit ton of knives of any and every assortment strapped all around his belt. He tips his hat to Sam but remains quiet as he takes his and Goodnight's horses into the trees.

"Sam, that's Billy. He come with Goodnight."

Matilda looks up at the man with the slur for a voice and noticed how he was slowly struggling to get off his horse. A bottle of whiskey in hand, he nearly stumbles off his stallion of a horse and struggles to stand up straight once he's on the ground, tilting his head all the way back to finish off his drink. He had red hair, but it wasn't as strong or as bright as Miss Emma's, and it was hidden from sight underneath his dark hat. He was pretty much all muscle with a surprisingly well-built midsection for someone who appears to drink a lot, but it was not really noticeable underneath his blue undershirt and thick brown vest. His belt carried two guns, one on each side of his hips, and a deck of cards nestled in his vest pocket.

"I don't know about this one," Goodnight muttered in response to the supposedly drunk's actions. The elder man in blue rests his hands on his hips, turning his head and nodding towards the red-headed woman not far off, "Who's this?"

"We work for her," Sam said with a warning tone and a knowing look as Goodnight starts walking over to Emma.

"Well, _enchanté_ _, mon cher_." Goodnight chuckled while reaching out to her with his hand.

"Emma Cullen." She greets roughly while politely shaking his hand.

"Your hands are cold, Emma. Are you nervous?"

She answers with silence, staring almost coldly into Goodnight's eyes. It was the only answer he needed to drop his confident persona and smile warmly.

"Don't be. Goodnight's my name." He comforts with words, a gift he was good at.

"That Billy is pretty nifty with them pigstickers."

Sam stares at Faraday oddly when he came up to speak with him. The gambler breaks away for a moment and sees Vasquez, standing there with a hand still on his gun.

"Oh, good we got a Mexican."

Matilda scoffs and watches in amusement to who she guessed was Faraday in his drunk state, trying to mock Vasquez, who only spat at the ground and set his jaw from snarling. As Faraday faked an accent and try to mock Vasquez's stance, Sam pats the outlaw's shoulder and drove him away before he decided to shoot Faraday, the gambler chuckling in response.

He shifts his eyes and they land on Matilda, who stood where Vasquez once was, her arms crossed and her lips curled up into an irritated smirk. Faraday grins, trudging up to her and tipping his hat in her direction.

"Josh Faraday."

"I figured. Your reputation precedes you, even from the little information about you that Sam has given me. Joshua, huh?"

He grinned, "Straight from the bible. Ma was a saint. And who might you be, little missy?"

"Matilda Crawford."

"Anyone ever call you Tilda or Tilly?" His eyes, now that Matilda was closer, were a mixture of golden brown and green colors, staring down at her with a mischievous glint to them. She couldn't help but let her lips form a beguile snarl.

"Once. They never lived long enough to say it a second time."

She walked away with a pleased look on her face for speaking her mind, satisfied but still annoyed that Faraday was still wearing that smug smirk like she was almost a challenge for him to unravel.

Well. Challenged accepted.

Sam motions Matilda over to where he, Goodnight and Billy stood in the shade and he claps her shoulder while extending his free arm to Goodnight, "Gentlemen, this here is Matilda Crawford."

"Well, I'll be!" Goodnight's grin widens and nearly laughs ecstatically, "Miss Persuasion herself! Quite the honor, miss."

"Mister Robicheaux," she smiles while shaking his hand, "I've heard so much about you, Angel of Death." She tips her hat to Billy, who stood behind his partner, "Mister Rocks."

Billy barely acknowledges in greeting. The only indication he made to show he heard Matilda was the slight twitch of his eyes. The one man who rode alongside Faraday known as Teddy Q introduces himself as Miss Emma's associate, and once everyone was acquainted, Sam makes a motion towards his horse.

"We better head out if we are to make it past the mountains before nightfall."

"Where to, Chisolm?" Goodnight asks while mounting his horse alongside the bounty hunter.

"I have an idea. Six years ago I met a bear of a man who could make a nice addition to the team. If my sources are right, he shouldn't be far. We'll meet him about a mile from the mountain pass and hopefully, we can make it past redskin territory before the sun goes down."

~~~~~~~~~

Matilda soon finds herself riding alongside a crowd of completely odd and different men, her and Emma completely outnumbered. Sam and Faraday lead the line of horses down a well-known dirt road crawling with traders and wagons, towards a small town known for trading anything hunters find in the woods.

"What a merry band we are." Goodnight seems to pull the words right out of Matilda's mouth, and he spares a playful grin in her direction, making her snort and look away bashfully. The Cajun continues,

"Me a gray, Chisolm a blue, Billy, a mysterious man of the Orient, a drunk Irishman, a Texican, two females, and a gentleman caller. This is not going to end well." He trails off sarcastically and the group of travelers grows silent for a moment.

"I'm Mexican, _cabrón_." Vasquez spits at the ground, "No such thing as a Texican."

Goodnight intends to respond back with a threatening tone of annoyance, "Try telling that to my granddaddy. He died at the Alamo. New Orleans Greys, long barracks, bayonets. Blood. Teeth. Mauled by a horde of teeming brown devils."

"My grandfather was one of those devils, you know. Toluca Battalion." Vasquez grins so suddenly and wickedly, it catches Matilda off guard to see him so careless with such an expression, "Hey. Maybe my grandfather killed your grandfather, huh?" He chuckles darkly at Goodnight riding beside him.

"What a charming thought," the older man's reply turns flat while turning to Billy, who seemed to be grinning with his eyes while sparing a glance between Vasquez and Goodnight, "I sense we are bonding."

The sarcastic response sends Matilda's head back as she laughs. Oh, yes...this is definitely not going to end well.


	3. Chapter 3

"So we're talking about the same Jack Horne. _The_ Jack Horne. The _legend_ Jack Horne." Goodnight asked for confirmation.

Matilda found herself and her new band of misfits resting underneath the shade of an old shack, just off a creek and a trading post town, if by _town_ ; she means only two to three buildings standing there by the flowing creek. She had to admit, she was impressed with Sam Chisolm, as he appeared to know every great outlaw and legend in every state. She remembered hearing stories of Jack Horne as a kid, and she could've sworn that he died years ago.

"Legend? Legend, my ass."

"Yeah, he might've killed 300 Crow, but he ain't never met the Pigeon brothers before."

Matilda snorts in amusement, perched up on top of an old and rotting fencepost that was built guarding the porch to the shack. She was swinging her legs into the air out of boredom, Vasquez leaning over and resting against his knee beside her, frowning as usual with a cigar in his mouth.

"And you saying that's Jack Horne's rifle?" Sam was definitely smiling out of amusement.

One of the Pigeon brothers held said weapon out for them to see, the initials JH carved on the end of it. His brother spoke while pointing to the gun, "It _was_ Jack Horne's rifle. And there's an Army fort want to pay $1,000 for proof of death," he pauses when his brother roughed up his arm to shut him up, finishing quietly while lowering his head, "Rifle'll do."

"You have no body?" Faraday asked flatly from where he sat at the foot of the stairs leading up to the shack.

"Well, you see, Len here smashed a boulder over his head. Fell off a cliff." One brother smirked smugly.

"Snuck up on him, huh?" Goodnight asked sarcastically, leaning against one of the porch railings.

"Just what the hell are you trying to imply-?!" The one Pigeon brother grunts in pain just as the blade of an ax embedded itself into his chest out of nowhere. As he's falling to his knees, all the other cowboys perked up in shock, turning their bodies to see a _huge_ burly man stomping down the hillside, pursuing the last brother with red in his eyes. The brother fires the old man's rifle, only to miss and trip and fall on his own feet. He tries crawling back to get away from the old man, who has now picked up his gun.

"Oh, my Lord," Matilda muttered as the burly man slams the butt of his rifle against the last brother's head, making Chisolm wince while watching. The man they assumed was Jack Horne stood over the slumped-over body, and with all his might and anger, brought his leg up and stomped it over the now dead man's face. Faraday blinks and looks away with a grim expression.

"The Pigeon Brothers weren't famous very long." Goody comments, making Vasquez chuckle darkly.

Jack Horne retrieves his stolen hat and looks to the odd group of westerners, acting quickly to defending himself, "These two ungodly creatures! Broke a rock on my head. Robbed me of my possessions. I trailed 'em for two days."

"Guess they got what they deserved, Mr. Horne," Sam replied calmly as Jack kept crouching down to regain what little possessions he had left from the dead robber brothers, "My name is Sam Chisolm. We met about six years ago up in Cheyenne?"

Horne looks up at him for a moment, then leans down to dig out the bloody ax embedded inside one brother's body, ignoring Chisolm all together, "Now, I got a right by the Lord and by the law, to take back what belongs to me. Are we in agreement?"

He glares at the rest of the group, all of them exchanging glances, shrugs, and mutters of an agreement, before Goodnight speaks for all of them and lets out a meek, "Yeah."

Horne's gaze darts to Sam, who bows his head, "Yes, sir." As the old man stands up, Chisolm's voice does as well, "You still collecting scalps?" And the question makes Horne pause.

"The government don't pay a bounty on Redskins anymore. You must be out of work." Faraday states knowingly, seeing the look of distress and weariness in Horne's eyes.

Horne eventually looks back at Chisolm, and there's definitely some shared pain behind each of their eyes, "Now that's part of another story, ain't it?"

"Yes, it is." Sam agrees with a heavy-heart sigh. He pulls himself together, trying to lighten the mood by raising his voice, "We, uh... We're looking for some men, Mr. Horne. Some good men like yourself, to do a job. Going after a fella, name of Bartholomew Bogue and his men. Just... Well, just thought you'd be interested."

By then, Horne had a hold of his possessions and hoisted them all up onto his stolen horse. The field is calm and quiet. He glimpses at everyone, staring at him expectedly and all he does is lower his head, leading his horse away. He passes Teddy Q and it makes the younger man back away. Once the great legend was out of sight and out of earshot, Faraday turns to the others.

"I believe that bear was wearing people's clothes."

A few grave chuckles were exchanged, Vas agreeing with Faraday with a few Spanish words while Sam looks on with a distant look. He insists that they hurry across the valley in order to get to Rose Creek in time, and so the crew heads off again. As they make it to the valley, however, dawn was supposed to set in a couple of hours and they were in uncharted Comanche territory. As they trotted down a steep slope, they came across a tiny shrine made from wood, skull, and feathers.

"Never trust a people who bury their dead above the ground," Vasquez muttered while passing the supposed burial.

"Don't call the alligator 'big mouth' till you cross the river." Goodnight reminds him.

"And besides, it's not technically a burial if it's above ground, now is it?" Matilda wore a smug grin to lighten the mood, her smile only widens further when Vas frowned at her sarcasm. Goodnight chuckle halfheartedly to save her from the silence that had fallen over their small crowd, and the two falter from the blissful humor.

The silence grew uneasy, and everyone had started to look up along the sides of the cliffs to see if they were being watched. In a valley such as this, it almost felt like they were being followed from all corners of the area.

Eventually, they find shelter underneath a cliff and make camp there, secluded and not entirely out in the open. It was well hidden from all sides of the valley, so, therefore, it was a strategic position to have night watches and make sure they wouldn't be ambushed.

As the night starts forming, so does their campfire, and very little talk is exchanged between the group of strangers. Matilda found herself shocked and amused to see that Vasquez had finally found it safe enough for him to fall asleep first amongst these strangers, in which he no doubt still is uneasy around them. His hat was propped over his face, his arms curled in protectively around himself as he snored softly, his head propped up on his small baggage of belongings.

Teddy Q feels a pebble being thrown at his ear and looks over his shoulder, seeing Faraday further up on a boulder and motioning him over. The younger man gets up and goes to sit down beside the Irishman.

"Are you in the army?"

"No, sir."

"I figured 'cause you carry this army-issue Open Top .45 Long Colt. Took you for a soldier. You know how to shoot that thing?"

"If I had to, I reckon."

"If you had to?" Faraday repeats almost mockingly and he suddenly nods towards Teddy's flask of drink he had been holding, "Tell you what, for a sip of your whiskey, I'll teach you a few lessons."

Teddy pondered on this, then gave up his flask to Faraday, who guzzles his first hungry sip within seconds, then turns back to the owner, "Lesson one. This-" he mimics his arms going up as a form of surrender, his face read a form of ridicule as if he was teasing Teddy Q for his naive state, "-means don't shoot."

Teddy frowns, looking off into the distance. He knew when he was being made fun of. "You got it?" Teddy regrettably nods, "Now watch this one."

The gentleman caller grew confused when Faraday brought out a playing card from the deck in his pocket, "Now, lesson two. Take this card out of my hand. You take the card, you live. You don't, you die."

Understanding the meaning behind the small lesson, Teddy complies, only he slowly reaches out for the card and Faraday easily takes it out of reach from the younger grabbing it. The gambler wore an unimpressed look as he took the card out again, "Come on, Teddy. Focus. You gotta be quick."

Teddy straightens up a little and tries again, failing again, "You just lost your first gunfight," Faraday holds out the card, "Again."

Teddy Q grew a little frustrated and determined, so he shifts in his seat to face Faraday more and practically glares at the card. In a seconds flash, the card was in Teddy's hand but the small barrel of a peacemaker pistol was in his face, and he heard a distinctive click.

Emma shoots out from underneath her blanket, rifle in hands as she watches Faraday hold a pistol to her friend's face and Teddy grew a little squeamish. Sam watches but doesn't make a motion to his gun.

"Lesson two. It was never about the cards." Faraday growls.

Out of relief, Teddy sighs as Faraday tucks the gun away, and this time, he takes a sip of his new ally's whiskey without asking, "Now, I'll give you a third lesson."

"Think you need that more than I do." Teddy puts a stop to it, standing up to walk over to his original spot by Miss Emma, blatantly responding, "Why don't you just take the rest, Mr. Faraday?

"Well, I reckon I will." Faraday shrugs, almost as a way of responding with _'suit yourself'_.

Emma nestles uneasily back into her woolen blanket, sending a small side glare towards Mister Faraday, while he just smirks at her and she looks away.

Billy, at the moment, was propped up higher than the rest of them, furthest away from the fire so he would be the first to see any mortal danger. He takes his time by polishing and sharpening every one of his knives from his gun belt. Letting the cool, silver steel reflect and shine off of the moonlight, Billy feels eyes staring at him and looks down to realize that he wasn't the only one admiring his work.

Matilda had been talking quietly with Goodnight, the old Cajun mentioning the said assassin she was looking at from time to time. Billy was alright with that; he was used to people staring...but not in this way. Her staring was more out of curiosity, eyes gleaming over the fire and particularly eyeing his knives. She didn't have the pleasure of seeing them in action in Volcano Springs, so she was mostly curious as to how skilled he must actually be to bring knives to a gun fight. From what Goodnight had told her about his and his partner's past adventures, she couldn't wait to see what promise his held on Rose Creek.

Billy could feel a tiny quirk of amusement betray him, one corner of his lips twitching while tucking one knife away and clearly showing off the hairpin he takes out of his hair. Matilda tilts her head, smiling out of wonder. From what Teddy Q and Goodnight had told her, Billy was excellent with speed and stealth, and pondered over how much faster a hairpin could be against a bullet. She was fascinated and intrigued, to say the least as she watched Billy openly sharpen the hairpin for her to see better, no exchange of words needed between the two. They already knew they were gonna get along just fine.

As Billy entertains the young woman, Goodnight finds himself standing up and walking over to Sam, who had been poking at the fire for a long amount of time, "The fire still burns." He comments as he sat down alongside his oldest friend, just as they all heard wolves sounding off in the distance.

As everyone besides Vas looked up at the melodic and peaceful sound, Goodnight smiles gently at Sam, "We have heard the chimes of midnight. Have we not?"

Sam smiles back in response while the sharpshooter continues, "So what's the play here, Sam? What's the payout? Little gold? Cash money? Diamonds?"

"You ain't changed," Sam spoke fondly and the two chuckle quietly amongst themselves. "Everything that... Everything they have, that's what they offered."

"Everything, huh?" Goodnight looks over at Emma, who was watching the fire out of boredom, "She's about the same age your sister'd be by now, right?"

"Yeah, she is," Sam confirms, growing silent for a moment before darting his eyes back to Goodnight, who just stares back knowingly.

"Just making sure we're fighting the battle in front of us, not behind."

~~~~~~~~~

The fire was just left smoking throughout the night, the light of the sun was just barely peeking over the mountains, leaving a pale blue color fall over the rocks in the valley. Everyone was asleep by now, but in a matter of seconds, Sam sits straight up from his makeshift bed and draws his weapon, looking around, alarmed.

Goodnight awoke to Sam stirring and immediately sits up when he experiences the same odd feeling of being watched.

"Smell that?"

"What smell?" Faraday grumbles as everyone got up, taking his hat away from his face with a prickly frown.

"The smoke?" Teddy Q asked.

"Its blood," Sam responds and on cue, there's the sound of rocks crumbling and everyone quickly stands up, reaching for their weapons.

They all look up to find Jack Horne cautiously approach them, Teddy Q stating the obvious, "He's been tracking us."

"I'll be damned."

Horne shushes them with his hand motions, then makes a sign that indicated that there were footsteps ahead. The rest of the group turn their heads to the direction Horne was pointing to, and slowly they hear hooves. Something was coming.

Beyond the trees and the bushes, out appears to be a Comanche warrior on his horse, a dead deer resting on his thighs. His body was covered in red, painted designs, his hair shaven to a point where it only came down the middle.

"Please someone tell me I am hallucinating," Goodnight mutters in shock, his rifle now stationed in his arms.

"If you are hallucinating, so am I," Faraday muttered, resting himself on the boulder he'd slept on, gun pointed straight at the intruder. Matilda was fully standing up, guns in both of her hands while standing over Emma, who was cowering into a crouch with a rifle in hand. Goodnight runs up to the higher ground, darting his eyes up at the cliffs, looking for more danger.

"Where there's one, there's more."

"Hold your fire. Hold your fire," Sam instructs, looking different without his hat on, " _Comanche_?" He suddenly calls out, causing everyone to look at him as if he was insane. When the warrior didn't respond, Chisolm held up his gun non-threatening, " _We come in peace_. Vasquez."

The outlaw turns his head to see Sam offering him his gun while never taking his eyes off of the Comanche. Vasquez takes the gun, unarming Sam as the bounty hunter slowly walks towards the native, keeping his open arms in sight.

" _You speak Comanche_?" the warrior finally speaks, sounding surprised.

" _Some_ ," Sam responds, finally reaching the warrior until he was only a few feet away, " _You speak...white man's English_?"

" _Some_."

"Where's your tribe?" Sam speaks in English, sounding as gentle and cautious as much as possible.

" _The elders told me my path is different_."

"My path is different, too. My path... Our path. We go to fight wicked men. Probably, we all die."

The Comanche looks beyond Sam and around at each and every one of the faces pointing guns at him, studying them. Some looked tired and weary, others looked determined and broken; he could read that through their eyes.

Slowly, he throws his game onto the ground, letting the deer collapse on impact with the earth. He slowly dismounts from his steed and brings out a knife, making Vasquez and a few others shift nervously with their feet, watching the weapon with alarmed eyes from a distance. The Comanche crouches down beside the deer carcass, slicing open its skin and carving out a chunk of its bloody meat.

He stands back up, offering the intestine to Sam, " _I'm called Red Harvest_."

Sam takes the raw meat, taking one more look at Red Harvest with keen eyes. Red makes a motion to eat his peace offering, and he does so. He squints his eyes as he's chewing on it, handing it back to Red Harvest and nodding. He turns to walk away, quickly spitting out the rotten meat into his hands, washing it away with the sand by his feet. As he approaches the group again, Jack Horne speaks up,

"What'd he say?"

"Said he's with us," Sam responds, while everyone else stares over at Red Harvest in disbelief, "Gonna fix him some breakfast. **I had mine**. Let's get this fire started."


	4. Chapter 4

The plan was simple. Sam would take Billy and Matilda up to the front of the town and the Blackstone agents as an unpredictable pair, while the rest of the group goes around and swoops in from behind the Sheriff and Bogue's men. There, with a surprising ambush and a well-planned out strategy, Sam and his small army were bound to win.

"Don't worry, darling," Faraday muses while loading one of his pistols, catching Matilda's attention as he was addressing her, "I'll leave some men for you to kill."

Tilda rolls her eyes upon his grin widening, and so she makes do with flashing the pistol in its holster by her side before she too, smiled, "Hate to break it to you, Mister Faraday, but I don't play fair. And I can't say _I'll_ be leaving any men for _you_ to kill in my wake."

"Miss Crawford," Sam beckons while climbing back onto his horse, "Time to move."

Matilda looks back at Faraday and then turns around with a huff, calling over her shoulder, "Just don't get in my way."

With Billy on one side of Sam's horse and Matilda on the other, the three strode into Rose Creek, the silence too dead to be called a town at all. Tilda felt chills through the cold, empty stares she earned from those townsfolk that were even outside to 'greet' the newcomers. Almost right away, a few people head inside for the upcoming storm they could already see brewing. Billy looks one way and sees curtains fall from where a face once observed him before. As the three get towards the end of town, they barely walk twenty paces to come to an end, they finally come across the Sheriff, standing among a few men that were no doubt, Blackstone. Emma and Teddy painted a pretty clear picture that Bogue had left about twenty of his best men, the best that money could buy as it would seem, to guard the town and the valley full of mines, which by themselves have more Blackstone's lying and waiting.

The parade of men standing next to the Sheriff causes Sam to slow down his horse, and finally, they get a good old Western stand-off, neither man (or woman) budging.

Chisolm gives a curt nod, "Afternoon, gentlemen."

"Town's got a ban on firearms," the Sheriff appoints with his authoritative voice, "Check 'em in. Get 'em back on your way out."

"You don't mind me asking, but how is it all of you go so well-heeled?" Sam couldn't help himself. Despite how they were supposed to be pulling an act, he liked catching people in such a weak lie.

"These men are deputies." The Sheriff answered, but this time the voice falters a little.

Upon scanning the small crowd full of men and guns, Sam reappoints the Sheriff, "Awful lot of deputies for such a small place, ain't it?"

"What's his story?" Was all one of the rougher-looking men called Moody demanded in response, pointing at Billy with such a cross look and finger.

Sam takes a glance at Billy and plays it off quite nicely, "Ah, my manservant. He's harmless," Billy couldn't help but stare at the back of Chisolm's head as he dismounts from his horse, Matilda trying her best to hide her smirk, "Saved his life in Shanghai, debt of honor and the like."

"And her?"

Sam turns his head in the other direction to find Matilda standing off to the side, "My new wife's daughter. Petite, young thing that she is," Tilda tilts her head in response, trying to look the part as neither of those really fit her description according to those who ever meet her, "Wanted to follow me out to see what I do for a living."

"Now, you don't mind giving up those guns, do you?" Another 'deputy' speaks up. McCann, as he's called, looked more of the leader type for this specific group.

"Absolutely. Law and order, I say," Sam willingly lets his guard down, arms up and slowly reaching down to grab his gun and hold it out to the group of men.

McCann doesn't even flinch, as he just slowly nods while never breaking eye contact with Chisolm, "Sheriff?"

The plump and rounded old man with the badge does a double take on one of his 'deputies', while the Blackstone only looks back between the Sheriff and Sam's gun. One glare sends the Sheriff to put his head down and cautiously move towards Sam while breaking into a sweat.

"Now, I must tell you that I'm more than happy to cooperate. I can't say the same thing for my com-padres behind you." And suddenly there's a sudden low tone in Sam's voice, announcing that the act has been dropped and that the Blackstone men better turn around if they know what's good for them.

Each man slowly turns their heads, only to find Goodnight loading a rifle as he emerges from behind a building and blocks their path from the exit into the valley, one arm holding the rifle while his other hand rest on his belt.

There were sounds of footsteps to the right of Matilda, and Bogue's men turn from Goodnight to find Faraday walking across the porch of a separate building, slowly and almost menacingly. He leans up against the building, being sure to display his guns and belt buckle, looking almost territorial with a cruel but exciting wolf-like grin on his face.

Vasquez is found across the street from Faraday, leaning against a wooden railing while nonchalantly putting an unlit cigar into his mouth, looking a little careless and loose for someone who might just get caught up in a gunfight at any second.

There's movement to Billy's left and Jack Horne comes down the dirt alleyway between buildings, chewing on some dried jerky as Moody, who spoke earlier appoints Sam, "Quite a batch of strays... and genders."

He says this as he makes a quick side glance in Matilda's direction, in which she glares in response. Horne sees her glare more threateningly than the Blackstone agent and mutters in a weak voice, "I'll say a prayer for you. You know, a little prayer."

"Yeah, you'll make a hell of a rug," McCann speaks up again.

"And you'll be murdered," heads turn towards Faraday again, who grins, "by the world's greatest lover."

"More like the greatest fool." Matilda quips, shrugging while feeling her lips twitch against her will, amusement following as she looks over to see Faraday look more prideful than offended.

"All right. All right," McCann lets an out a breathy chuckle as he maps out the situation, turning back to Sam, who had been quiet this whole time, "What's your aim here, mister?

"Well..." _'since you asked so nicely'_ went unsaid as Sam goes on, "I hear that there are some _cowards_ running security here, so I figured we'd come down here and look after all this gold."

"Cowards?" The Blackstone leader repeats the word, the irritation slowly rising to his face, trying to hide behind a devilish smirk.

"Blackstone detective agents. Cowards. Now, Blackstone's are good, union busting, back-shooting homesteaders and women, but you put 'em up against some real men, men that know what they're doing-- You sure you don't want my gun?" Sam steps forward and offers his gun to the Sheriff again, now that the men have started to grow weary.

"Now, you do know who we work for, right? The force he can bring to bear?"

Sam doesn't even blink, "You tell Bogue that if he wants his town... come see me."

The silence cuts through, and so McCann brings his fingers to his lips, letting out a swift, loud whistle that broke the air. Some look around, expecting something to happen before Sam eased their worry.

"I don't believe he heard you." He makes a quick remark in Comanche and off in the distance, on a building behind Sam, one of the men perched up high with a gun suddenly goes tumbling down from the roof, falling dead on the dirt. In his place, stood Red Harvest with quick movements, faster than others could comprehend in time as there's suddenly an arrow in one man's chest that stood behind the Blackstone leader on the ground. 

Now there was nothing but hard and cold glares between the men, Blackstone and Chisolm alike. Some of the men Bogue hired appeared nervous, seeing as that they have seen a taste of what Sam's 'batch of strays' can do. Faraday and a couple of the others shuffle their feet with anticipation, just waiting for someone to make a move, daring for someone to get this party started. Vasquez reaches slowly for his gun, while Goodnight starts to sweat and Horne takes one last bite of his jerky. Like Sam, Matilda only goes for those hard-earned glares, intimidation being more of her approach than a reach of her gun.

Faraday looks up from the scene when he hears footsteps and spurs coming from above his head, mapping out how many men might be peering down with rifles in the balcony above him. It was a clever trick, a trick no doubt the Blackstone's won't hesitate to take and aim for the most open threat, and in this case, that threat being Matilda, since she was the closest target to the sniper above Faraday.

Sam takes this moment of silence to click his tongue and tilt his head, "Go on, horse."

At his command, his dark stallion slowly trudges off, away from the standoff and the danger that could follow. Billy looks on, face blank as paper as to what he might be thinking, not even reaching for a weapon since it wouldn't matter once it came down to it. Most people know Billy Rocks was almost as fast as the speed of light.

There's an occasional lip twitching, eye squinting, gazes wandering, feet shifting, all within this moment of silence and blanket of dust. Nothing moves, as Sam Chisolm stares everyone down. This has got to have been the longest standoff in history.

There's movement to Sam's left and he draws his pistol much quicker than the poor man he shoots, killing Moody without blinking. All hell breaks loose and now everyone has drawn their weapons. Sam takes down two, three more men, reloading and shooting without hesitation. One of the men he shoots even falls back through a window!

One man behind Sam is killed by Horne who was covering for his leader, throwing a hatchet in the Blackstone's back. Some men go running right away, such as the Sheriff, but others were foolish to stay behind and fight. Billy starts off his killing spree by drawing for a knife and throwing it in a more tricky direction- behind him. He takes another knife out just after he threw his first one in the same direction, perfectly hitting and killing two men who had just run out at the sounds of guns blazing. All the while Vasquez has already shot and killed a man, the snipers from above react and take aim to the people down below, that being Matilda, Sam, and Billy. And they wouldn't have missed Tilda hadn't someone from below shot up into the ceiling and killed the men above in the balconies.

Faraday looks back down from the balconies when he hears the familiar click of a gun behind him, but as he turns to look over his shoulder, Sam has already aimed and shot at the man that emerged from inside the building, who had threatened to take Faraday's life. Faraday looks back at the bounty hunter, and he only nods in response to saving the other man's life before going on his way.

Matilda takes the chance to sprint across the dirt crossroads, in the middle of the gunfight, to charge towards the most intimate danger. There were gunshots from inside one building, and through the darkness of the doorway, bullets were flying out and making it impossible for Tilda to charge inside without getting hit. As the gunfire gets a little heavy, she takes cover behind one of the posts supporting the porch and front steps, with very little protection between herself and the wood being littered with bullets and splinters. She goes to reach for her gun and free it from its holster, but the gunfire was too thick and so she wouldn't be able to do anything without getting shot at. Huffing in frustration, she decides to try and wait out whatever chamber lies within the gun firing at her to empty, before she felt something whizzing at her head. She goes to duck and finds it pointless since the knife was never directly aimed _at_ her. Matilda looks over to see Billy fighting not far off, back turned towards her but the message was clear, being as there was now a knife dug into the wood above her head. She grins wickedly, reaching up and taking the knife out as the bullets finally come to a halt when the chamber empties. The man holding that gun comes running out of the building and goes to make it down the steps, but doesn't get far as Matilda comes out of her hiding place behind the post and swishes her knife, slicing the man's neck clean and swiftly.

As the fighting soon goes underway, Goodnight takes aim at a lot of men... but never fires, the gunshots echoing in his ears and driving him mad with the heat crawling up his neck. Billy runs across the town towards a building full of men he saw running inside, while Jack practically tackles a man who just walked out of a building. Across the street, a man shoots and misses at Faraday, the bullet digging into the wood behind him. The gambler aims and kills his assailant on his first shot, never once looking over his shoulder as Vasquez had his back, now that the outlaw had moved over to his position. Sam takes a look inside the building Faraday was guarding while the redheaded cowboy starts walking off, reloading his pistol. 

Up on the rooftops, Red Harvest was busy taking out every single man he aimed at, sniping them all with his deadly arrows. Billy uses this as cover as he runs straight for a man taking his gun out and aiming at the assassin. But Billy was even quicker than a bullet, and as he's being shot at, he rolls over the dirt, dodging the gunfire while still stalking his prey. Suddenly he springs up right in front of the man shooting at him, and drives one of his knives straight through his gut, sticking him to the wooden post behind him. Billy wastes no time with his little victories as another man approaches from inside the doorway. Billy pulls out two extra knives and slices the man's leg, before spinning around and driving the other into his neck.

As Sam deals with a hostage situation in the hotel, Matilda finds herself standing out in the open, almost as if daring anyone to take an easy shot at her. At the moment, she was weaponless besides the knife Billy lent her, but that doesn't mean she couldn't use it in the gunfight. Once she disarms any man who approaches her, it becomes an easier fight as they now have to use fists to fight the cowgirl off. Now with the upper hand, Matilda takes a few swings before using the knife and killing her opponents. 

Meanwhile, the Sheriff cowers underneath a porch, seeing Vasquez head towards Matilda in the middle of the street out of the corner of his eye. Shaking in his boots, he can hear Jack brutally murdering a man above him, shouting prayers as he does so, "Lord! Give me the clear vision! Clear sight!"

Faraday catches wind of Goodnight aiming but never killing any of the men, and so as the enemy realize this, the Blackstone agents start gunning for the Angel of Death. Faraday shoots every single man Goodnight refuses to finish off, eventually killing them all and finding himself in the middle of town, out in the open. Shooting one man off his horse so he wouldn't get away, Faraday feels a body press up against him and doesn't even flinch as both Vasquez and Matilda press their backs against his, giving each other the back up they needed. Working together as smooth as silk and as a naturally born team, Matilda now back with her guns, the three fight off what's left of the Blackstone men, aiming and shooting at the ones that were in each other's blind spots. 

Another man has managed to find a horse and starts taking off, but Jack was quicker, despite what his body mass could tell you. He practically leaps off of his perch and tackles both man and beast to the ground, the horse screaming out in distress under the weight of Jack Horne. The man was still clinging onto the reins as Jack thrusts a knife into his neck, repeating this action for many moments. If anyone ever asked after the fight, Jack just said he was just making sure the man was dead. 

The rest of the crew was finishing off the last of Bogue's men when Sam emerged from the hotel, Vasquez splitting up from the others to have his own little fun with the two men hiding inside the bank.

Matilda flips her hair out of her face while turning towards Faraday to see if he needed any help. In the middle of the gunfire, he had turned to her as well but was unaware of the man on a horse racing towards him.

If Faraday felt betrayal to see the Crawford girl raise her own gun to him, he didn't show it on his face, his jaw locking in place as his eyes narrow at hers. But Matilda doesn't shoot him. Instead, she moves the gun a little off from his shoulder and fires at the Blackstone riding on the horse, hitting him and watching him topple off the beast before he could reach for his own weapon.

Faraday looks behind him to see the now dead man that could have killed him, before turning back to Matilda, who wore a snake-like grin of pride while studying his reaction.

"I thought I told you to stay out of my way?" She mocked.

Some Blackstone men come out of another building, shooting at Horne who stood out in the open. He goes stomping towards them as they flee into the building, and once he's inside all Hell breaks loose, one man screaming as he comes bursting out through a window.

Red Harvest takes care of one other man trying to escape on a horse, shooting him with an arrow and watching him land by the graveyard.

One injured Blackstone comes tripping down the steps of one building, only to turn around and get shot in the chest by Billy. The assassin emerges into the sunlight, now holding his gun since he ran out of knives. He puts the gun away and stands by the dead man he had pinned to a post earlier, retracting the knife from his chest and letting his body fall to the ground.

Goodnight is trying to tame his breathing as the fighting dies down but hears a horse rear while trotting towards him. He spins around to see McCann, shot and wounded, riding off and away from danger.

The Cajun aims for him but continues to watch him ride off. He hesitates, before closing his eyes and taking deep breaths, forcing his gun up and slowly aiming for his target, ready to snipe McCann, once and for all.

But the man is slowly getting too far away, and Goodnight still hasn't fired. Faraday comes up behind him to see the action for himself, trying to be encouraging at first.

"Go on, shoot him. Take the shot." But even still, Goodnight would not pull the trigger. He was frozen, like stone, as Faraday started to raise his voice, "Take that shot. Take the damn shot!"

But by then, the Blackstone agent was too far away and Goodnight slowly lowers his weapon, hesitating to even look Faraday in the eyes out of shame. Slowly, he turns to the other westerner and stares at him in exhaustion, but nearly jumps out of his skin when Billy comes out of nowhere to snatch his gun.

"Give me that," Billy opens up the chamber and inspects the gun, pretending to notice something as he empties the clip. Trying to cover up his partner's mistake, he looks up at Faraday to explain what happened, "It's jammed."

Billy walks away, Goodnight slowly following him like a kicked puppy would after getting in trouble with his mama. Faraday glares after the pair but didn't say anything as he empties the chamber to his own pistols.

Red Harvest hops down from the rooftops and lands next to Matilda, who wipes the dirt and sweat from her face with the back of her hand, putting her weapon away. Sam walks over to her, looking around and inspecting the town littered with bodies, the only sound coming from Horne walking out of the saloon, checking his own gun out and reloading it just in case. The rest of the gang starts walking back to the middle of town to join the others, avoiding the bodies while counting up all the victims.

"How'd we do?" Chisolm asked.

"I got five," Billy announced, Matilda agreeing with him.

"I got six," Faraday said next.

"Hey." Billy offers Goodnight's gun back to him, but when the older man reaches for it, Billy recognized the blood on his hand. Goodnight doesn't say anything as he just takes the gun from him.

"What'd you get?" Faraday asked Vasquez who was throwing the empty bullet casings to the ground while reloading his weapon.

"Six."

Faraday turns back to Sam, retracting his last statement, "I got seven."

Everyone turns to stare at him funny, being that he already said he got six. In turn, Faraday holds up seven fingers, making Vasquez scoff.

"You wanna try and tie it up? Huh, _chingado_?" Faraday turns back to the Mexican, challenging him.

Vasquez frowns while squaring up his shoulders, "Say when, _güero_."

"Alright, kiddies, no more fighting," Matilda growls while looking at Sam, who started to crouch low to the ground as if he saw something.

"Hey," the word drives everyone else to look at Sam, including the Sheriff who had buried his face in the dirt underneath a porch, trying to hide from the world, "Come on out of there. Come on. Come on!"

Slowly, the plump Sheriff does so, crawling out from under his hiding place, making him look pathetic in the other's eyes. Sam points to his attire, "Take off that gun belt."

"You all right?" Billy mutters to Goodnight as they all crowd around Sam and the Sheriff.

"Nice and easy," Chisolm continues as the man does what he says, "Take off that badge, too."

"I'm still sheriff. Duly elected." He stuttered.

"Consider this a recall. Now, you're gonna deliver a message to your boss."

"Mister, you already sent him a message, only you're not gonna like his answer."

"Tell him we have his town, we have his whole valley. He wants it back, he's gonna have to make a deal with us."

"He don't make deals. You can ask anybody here. He's just gonna send as many men as it takes to squash you flat." The man tries raising his voice, trying to sound superior and stern.

"We'll be waiting. In the meantime, you tell him this: Lincoln. Like the president. Say it."

"Lincoln, like the president." The Sheriff slowly repeats, confused.

"That's right. Lincoln, Kansas." Sam clears up, acting as if the Sheriff were a child, "And you tell him if he don't show up himself, he ain't nothing but a yellow-bellied sapsucking coward."

The Sheriff's face just falls in terror, while Sam's only hardens and looks away from the cowardly man, "Go on, git. Git."

The Sheriff lowers his head while walking past the seven men and single woman to make it towards the stables, all the while hoping that none of them shoot him in the back.

"Hey."

The Sheriff looks back, seeing Sam look straight at him with a glare.

"Sam Chisolm. Say it."

"Sam Chisolm," he repeats, this time his voice falters to its lowest tone, "Yes, sir."

After the Sheriff is gone, the town reverts back into silence, Faraday saying what they have all been thinking, "Well, this is quite the welcome party."

"Where is everybody?" Vasquez asks while looking around.

"I think we killed 'em all."

"Oh, they're here," Goodnight assures, "They just want to make sure their candle is lit before they blew out the match."

Faraday gives him an odd look, all the while the others heard horses approaching in the distance. Two beasts with Emma and Teddy riding them come trotting into town, Missus Cullen shouting to get the townsfolk's attention.

"Everyone! Come on! Come out! Come out!"

"Come on out, everybody! What's the matter with y'all? Don't you see what they just did?" Teddy adds on, shouting at the top of his lungs to spread through all the houses.

"Come on! Come out!" Emma and Teddy dismount and walk around as people slowly crawl out from their hiding places, "These men are here to help us! Come on!"

"Well, look at that," Horne mutters as he finds a bottle of whiskey among a dead man he had stabbed earlier. Faraday had also found a treasure, and by treasure, he meant the Sheriff's old badge.

"Come on!"

"Nothing to be scared of!" Teddy assures.

"Let's go! Come on!"

A young boy runs up to a body with an arrow through his chest, his mother trying to hold him back, "Is he dead?"

"Come on. Get away." She orders in response.

"It's okay. Come on, don't be afraid." Emma steps up onto a porch while the people crowd around her to listen, "I have assembled these men and offered fair pay."

"Who picked you to deal on our behalf?" The proprietor of the Elysium Hotel, known as Gavin, snarls at the young woman.

"Seems I was the only one with balls enough to do so," the redhead replied sternly back, making the man lower his head in shame and for Goodnight to smirk, despite the pain he was in from a small gunshot wound. Sam, Tilda, and Faraday also smile underneath their hats as she continues, "So I did. As I said, these men are here to help us. Mister Chisolm?" Emma gives the floor to Sam, as the man finds himself unprepared, causing Goodnight to grin knowingly.

"Uh," the bounty hunter looks around at the small group of men, women, and children surrounding him and his team, "My name is Sam Chisolm, and I'm a duly sworn warrant officer in Wichita, Kansas. Also, a licensed peace officer in the Indian Territories, Arkansas, and seven other states. Now, what happened here was just an opening skirmish. The real battle is yet to come. The idea is that when it comes, it'll be on our terms."

"On our terms?" One farmer, Phillips, repeated almost sarcastically.

"Yeah, there's no way in hell." One other comments.

"Son of a bitch'll come back with 200 men and slaughter us all." Another man known as Turner pitched in.

"If you want to leave, **leave** ," Emma invites anyone here to do so, while others stared up at her in shock, "Just don't take anything you didn't bring with you."

"You want to keep your town, you're gonna have to fight for it," Sam states blatantly, Matilda coming to stand beside him and he nods to her.

Looking out, Matilda spoke kindly to the townsfolk, "Now, we're here to help you, but you got to help us. We're gonna need every somebody out here to help us fight."

"Good Lord! Are you suggesting we wait here to face retaliation?" Gavin spoke out of disbelief, staring at this woman with pants out of horror.

"Hell, yeah, she is." Teddy Q speaks his mind.

"What?"

"Let 'em come. We'll be ready for 'em." He continues to encourage.

"I beg pardon, sir." A man dressed as a preacher and with a sling speaks up to Chisolm, "The spirit here is willing, but we are not killers."

"Most aren't, till they're looking down the barrel of a gun," Sam replied sternly.

"Now, I never shot anything that could shoot back at me," one man known as Fanning spoke, "But this is our home. Damned if I won't defend it."

"That's right. And now let me tell you, these men that are coming here, they're gonna underestimate you. That'll be their first mistake."

"That's all well and good," a young woman, Leni, hands over her little baby to who must be her mother or midwife while talking to Sam with fear in her voice, "But we don't have enough time. Bogue said he'd be back in three weeks, that was eight days ago."

"One week." Sam interrupts.

"That only leaves us... No, one week?" Leni pauses in confusion, while the rest of town starts to buzz with the same predicament.

"One week?" The owner of the only General Store in town, Hank Stoner, repeats.

"One week," Sam explains, "Three days' ride to Sacramento with the bad news, one day for Bogue to plan, three days back. Seven days, that's all you got. We'll get started in the morning. Get a good night's rest. It may be your last for a while."

Chisolm decides to end this meeting by walking away, the townsfolk looking around at each other all nervous, not wanting to get some sleep afterward like that. Emma sees some faces staring at her as they all walk away and scatter amongst the town. Leni Frankel looks back at Emma, now holding her baby again as the old midwife beside her starts to guide her away. Leni lost her husband just like Emma did, and both women wore that same pained look on their faces. When the two women with the crying baby walk away, Emma takes in a shaky breath, removing her hat as she sat down on the porch steps, feeling exhausted as tears ran down her face.

She tries to regain her posture when she feels a hand on her shoulder, looking up to see Matilda giving her a sympathetic smile, "You were great out there. These people will eventually look up to you, and hey, maybe they'll even thank you for stepping up for them."

Emma sniffs back some tears and slowly nods, looking away while speaking roughly, "You and the others must be famished. I'll have Clara and myself work up some dinner for the eight of you."

~~~~~~~~~

Dinner was quiet besides the scrapping of spoons against plates as the heroes of the day scarf down shovels and shovels of cooked beans, bacon and biscuits. Emma walked away from the table after offering some water and exchanged a glance with Teddy as he ate standing and a nervous young woman, who must have been Clara.

"I'll have some more beans," Horne announced after just finishing off his own plate, reaching over the table for a cup of water.

The inn was quiet, with the exception of only a few townspeople sitting around and staring at the strangers taking up one small table, elbows and knees stuck together with all eight grown adults sitting together.

Faraday, now with his hat off and shirt loosened around him, studied the quiet people staring at him before noting towards the others, "Like being in one of them damn zoos."

"Fame is a sarcophagus." Goodnight points out, helping himself to some whiskey from his flask no doubt and gulped it down from a shot glass.

Faraday, again, gives him this blank stare while chewing loudly, "You read those in a book, or you just make 'em up as you go?"

"I'll try to use one-syllable words from now on." Goodnight makes the comment to sound teasing, earning a smirk from Billy while Faraday looks around at the others to see if they understood any of that.

"What's a syllable?"

Goodnight starts to laugh to himself and shake his head out of pure surprise for this younger man, a few others like Matilda were smiling, all the while Red Harvest throws his untouched food back on the table.

_"White people's food... is for dogs."_

He says this while looking at Jack, who was sitting right beside him. A little paranoid, Horne addresses Sam in a worried tone, "What'd he say?"

Sam decides to lie and answered without looking up from his food, "He asked that you kindly stop staring at his hairline."

Goodnight smirks as Horne responds with an equally sarcastic response, "Oh, I will. As long as he stops licking his lips over mine."

The whole table breaks out into laughter, Sam's laugh being more surprisingly heard over the ruckus as he deeply chuckled, almost sounding like he hasn't laughed in a very long time.

Matilda couldn't help but let a small giggle escape and turn her head towards the tracker bear of a man, "Maybe he's glossing over that hat. Red Harvest would have agreed with that one Blackstone agent from earlier. You _would_ make one helluva rug."

Jack Horne bursts into laughter, to everyone's surprise. Most would have thought that Horne would have been offended by such a comment, but it was Faraday in the end who appeared offended.

"Why does Horne fancy you over me?" He gripes at Matilda, who only wore a smug grin in response, her hat gone showing her dirty blonde and brown hair hang over one shoulder.

"Because I'm more self-righteous than you."

"Amen to that, Miss Crawford."

Vasquez nearly chokes on his food while he chuckles, all the while Faraday just grins at Tilda, "Maybe it's the Irish. Probably makes me look intimidating."

She only gives him a blank stare before responding, "...I'm actually Irish myself."

"No shit!" Faraday laughs, leaning back and getting comfortable in his seat, still grinning at Miss Persuasion from across the table, "What say you and I keep the bloodline going pure and strong, as the Irish seem to become an extinct species?"

A few like Goodnight and Vasquez give Faraday odd, disgusted looks, while Matilda handles it rather well by saying, "Mister Faraday, I'm pretty sure your blood is way too dirty for any _purity_ you might be thinking of."

The others laugh, Vasquez even slapping the table out of amusement. The only ones who weren't laughing were Faraday and Matilda, but both were smiling, nonetheless.

Faraday grinned at her, "You and I might just become friends yet, Tilda."

" _Matilda_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I haven't mentioned I might have butchered Vasquez's Spanish I am so sorry ahead of time. I did as much research as I could


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, a small train of wagons and horses load up and take up a chunk of town as people started piling up their things and leaving Rose Creek behind in search of safety. About half the town has already given up hope and was leaving the rest to fend for themselves.

"These bodies don't get buried in the church graveyard. You take 'em to Boot Hill."

"I expect we'll make ten miles by sundown."

"I suppose that undertaker's gonna get some business out of this deal," Faraday mutters to himself and his new compadres watch the train leave from the porch of the saloon. Laying back against the wall, Faraday noticed the man Gavin trying to persuade his ladies that work at the hotel to stay, while the girls pile into one carriage.

"I guarantee you, there ain't no reason to be running off scared. Hate to see y'all go like this. Now, now won't you reconsider?"

One woman was staring up at the saloon, a distant, heavy look on her face when her eyes land on Faraday. He winks, but her expression drops and covers the wagon's window with a blind.

"Who'd have thought we'd travel these many miles just to have the good people of Rose Creek turn tail and leave us to die?" Goodnight talks mostly to himself, but his new friends heard him.

"Some people have died for much less," Horne states.

This makes Sam turn his head to look at Jack, a grave look on his face while his posture changes as the bounty hunter turn around and walk back into the saloon. Matilda was leaning against one of the posts across from Vasquez, exchanging her cup of dirt black coffee for one of his smokes. Looking out and watching the train of cowards disappear, a new crowd takes their place as a group of farmers with Emma at the lead starts walking towards them.

"Behold. Our army approaches." Goodnight announces while standing up and crossing the porch, leaning onto a rail.

Upon inspecting the weapons they had, Faraday makes the sarcastic remark of, "Oh good, they brought their pitchforks. We may stand a chance after all."

This does not please Horne as he stares up at the sky, "Lord, keep me from judgment."

Matilda snickered.

~~~~~~~~~

"Gun on your shoulder. Right shoulder."

That night, with the sun barely above the horizon anymore, Faraday had men line up out in the fields, teaching them how to hold a rifle. He had a bunch of them look ridiculous and so corrects them of their foolishness, flipping guns over if they were holding it wrong and getting rid of the farm equipment if they were still holding any.

For a group of teenaged boys and younger men, Billy decided to teach them his specialty. "Knives. There's nothing to it."

He flips one in his hand before tossing both knives into the straw dummy, making the men look a little unsteady.

"Oh, boy," Faraday grumbles as he grabs Gavin's gun, who was even holding it upside down! Even as Faraday moved on, Gavin still dropped it.

"Who here fought in the War of Northern Aggression?" Faraday spoke while flipping over Turner's gun.

"Not me." Some muttered, as Faraday makes it to the Barber, who didn't hold a gun, but his shears.

"What is this? Come on." Faraday deadpanned as he tossed it aside.

"Now, I know not all of you need no explanation on how to ride a horse, as you all are in fact farmers." Matilda stood among a line of men just outside the small ranch of horses one afternoon, her hands on her hips, "But if you're getting shot at, stabbed, or need to hold a gun while holding the reins, then I hate to tell you darlings but you're gonna need all the help that you can get."

"Throw. Slash. Stab. That's it." Billy explains, drawing two more knives, his back turned to the men and standing in between the dummies. Then suddenly, he rapidly spins around multiple times, slashing at the dummies and drawing straws from them, stabbing one then moving to the next at such a fast pace. He grunts towards the end as he stabs both straw men from behind him at the same time, then retracts the knives and turns back to his students, "That simple."

"Like hell." Some muttered and Billy's face falls when he realized the men had started walking away, already giving up on this lesson.

"Hey." He called out.

"How the hell we gonna learn to do that?"

"Get back here! Get back!"

All the men and even a couple women were up on their toes and leaning against the fenced-in area with excitement and awe as they watched Matilda effortlessly and gracefully ride her horse, Nessie in wild paths and obstacles across the field. She shouts commands at her horse, allowing the Appaloosa to leap up and over the fencing, all the while Matilda had her right wrist wrapped around the reins while her left-hand draws her pistol. While speeding past the dummies as fast as lightning, Miss Persuasion was still able to shoot and hit the targets straight through where the heart was supposed to be.

The crowd cheers, Faraday amongst them with a smug look on his face. Matilda and Nessie slow down from their descend and trot back to the stables while her students find a horse and train themselves. When she dismounts her horse, Faraday was there to greet her.

"Helluva beast you got there." He compliments, "I should introduce you to my stallion, Jack sometime."

"I'm sure your horse is quite lovely, but I think I'll pass." She replied as the two of them walked out of the stables together.

"I wasn't talking about my horse." Faraday grinned, only to earn an elbow to his arm for his efforts. But it made him laugh, and Matilda hated to admit it, but she smiled, too, while rolling her eyes of course.

~~~~~~~~~

While Sam, Faraday, and Goodnight take the men out to go shooting, Billy, Jack, Red Harvest, and Vasquez stay behind in town to settle a few things and help Matilda out with the chores she assigned to herself. When Matilda wasn't teaching them how to map out a landscape, the others were helping Red carve arrows. Of course, he had to teach them how, and even for the fun of it he, Billy and Vas tried teaching Jack and Matilda each of their native languages.

~~~~~~~~~

"So this is our trap." Goodnight states as the eight of them sit on their horses, staring out at the entirety of the town and seeing the valley appear in the background.

"It might work. Pin 'em in there." Vasquez adds on as they observe their surroundings for better strategies that they could use.

"Well, it might," Goody agrees, "if we can teach more than half of these townsfolk to hit the broad side of a barn at ten paces."

"Come up with a few surprises," Billy tells Goodnight.

"We'll need more than a few," Sam spoke up.

"It's a box of death."

"So melt the elements, with fervent heat." Horne spoke up, "Like Sodom and Gomorrah."

Matilda snorts, understanding the Bible reference while the others looked at each other in confusion. "We just gotta get the people to believe that they can do it, that'll probably toughen them up."

"What do you think?" Vasquez addressed Faraday, who had been quiet the whole time.

"Reminds me of this fella I used to know. Fell off a five-story building. Passed each floor on the way down. People inside heard him say, 'So far, so good'!"

Jack was the first to start chuckling, unable to stop while just picturing it, Sam trying to force back the grin slowly coming to his face.

"He's dead now."

That makes Vas and Matilda start laughing with Horne, who just won't stop now, while Billy seemed a bit peeved that Goody was willing to share with him some water but left none for him.

"I make good on my horse yet, Sam?" Faraday asked.

"So far, so good," Sam replied sarcastically, now everyone was chuckling as Faraday bites his lip while shrugging, "Let's go get some ammo. Come on."

~~~~~~~~~

"Mr. Bogue wants this mine stripped before he gets back."

"Move it, you lazy dogs!"

"Move that gold out!"

"Fire in the hole!"

"That sounded like a gunshot!"

"It's coming from the cliff."

"Who are they?"

The miners and war veterans imprisoned in the valley by Bogue's men watched as every Blackstone was killed by what appeared to be some sharpshooter. When it was over, they looked on to see a group of men on horses riding across the river and towards their mines. Realizing that these weren't Bogue's men and that they've killed every single one of their captors, the miners who were even wounded would come up to stand around them, studying them, wondering who their saviors were.

"This mine is now closed," Chisolm announces to the weary, dirty miners, "You men are free to go. Or you can stay and fight."

Faraday holds up his glass bottle of whiskey, eyeing one man to make sure he was addressing him before tossing the drink to the miner, the man catching it then staring up at Faraday in gratitude. While Sam lowers his hat in respect, Matilda observed the look on Faraday's face as he nods honorably at the miner.

Later on, as they're salvaging bits and pieces of equipment from the mine, Billy kicks open a nearby shed and everyone peers inside, Billy putting his hands on his hips as someone whistled, impressed.

"This will help," Billy states as they stare at over a dozen crates of dynamite.

"Yeah."

"I've always wanted to blow something up," Faraday informs with a glint of excitement in his eyes, making the others laugh.

As they return to Rose Creek, the townsfolk stare in amazement as they bring back a wagon full of dynamite, two horses full of ignition, and nearly two dozen men behind them. Josiah, the town's schoolteacher, instructs Emma to bring the kids back inside, while Teddy is on a ladder across the street, tearing down Bogue's Mining Office sign.

As the wagon full of explosives parks right outside the hotel, Gavin becomes frantic, asking Sam a bunch of questions as the men unload the dynamite off the wagon.

"Mister Chisolm, what's this?" He asks while he stood by Matilda's horse, Vas helping the woman down with little effort.

"Reinforcements," Sam replied.

"What's that on the wagon?"

"Dynamite."

"Dynamite? Where you gonna put that stuff?"

"Your place."

"My place? Why my place?"

"Oh, Lord." Some of the men muttered while hauling the boxes into the hotel.

"Please be careful with it," Gavin begged.

~~~~~~~~~

One of the following mornings, Matilda found herself polishing the guns they've stockpiled, counting all of the dynamite, taking inventory, and mapping out the terrain to see how and where the explosives could be set up, and so on. Sam Chisolm knew that owning so much land, Matilda had to know a thing or two about square miles and environments that could work to their needs, and so that is where Matilda put her specialty and her namesake of Miss Persuasion do all the work. Honestly, Rose Creek isn't much for land. She wouldn't have bought it if it were ever offered to her, and trust me, several landscapes have been offered and she bought all of it. But nonetheless, she loved how cozy Rose Creek could be without the potential threat of Bogue so she was determined to make all of this work.

During all of her brainstorming, she never heard Faraday enter the hotel, the entryway covered in crates of dynamite, stacks of guns, and piles of Matilda's notes. She stood at the center of it all, head down in her paper and scribbles with her back towards the door. The Irishman couldn't help but feel impressed with the young woman, and he couldn't shut up whenever he was needed to be quiet.

"Pretty."

Matilda spun around, startled in all of the confusion and before Faraday could blink, he once again had her pistol right up in his face. In the silence of the room, he slowly raised his arms up in surrender, Tilda's frown faltering as she realized who it was. Faraday was still smiling in amusement, looking at her gun and face.

"I mean good. _Pretty good_. Pretty good setup you have in here. I was always wondering what kind of specialty you had that made Chisolm value you so much."

It wasn't meant to sound offensive, and Tilda knew that as she lowered her gun and brought her head back down to the book she was staring at. It was basically just a bunch of maps collected over the years, and where there were blanks missing, Matilda just filled them in so she knew a better outline of the terrain.

"It doesn't matter what my specialties are. Sam makes friends and uses that to his advantage. Chisolm and I are old friends. Granted, not as old as him and Goodnight are but just as loyal and dutiful to whatever cause Sam has his head wrapped around at the time."

"You've worked jobs with Sam before?"

"Dozens," she replied with a smile, "I owe him that much."

She walks off to set her notes aside and picks up a gun, inspecting it, opening the chamber and then closing it. She'd move onto the next and start cleaning that one, and so Faraday decides to move beside her and help her out, picking up a gun of his own to clean.

"And what do you owe Sam? A horse?"

Matilda's fingers pause from their work at the moment before she quickly tried covering it up by chuckling slightly, "No... not really."

"Well, then what?"

The Irishwoman ponders on this, wondering if this was really her place to say to a man she just met. She stares ahead of her, out the window of the hotel while watching some men help out with some planks of wood across the street.

"Why are you doing this, Faraday?" She asks instead, "I mean, why are you here fighting someone else's fight?"

It was his turn to grow quiet, making Matilda look up at him to observe his expression. Any teasing or amusement has vanished and was replaced by a more softer, noble look. His eyes say something so detailed, so poetic, but he says something different instead, "I needed my horse back, and this was the price."

"I see," Tilda decides to let the lame excuse slide, even though she knew Faraday was attached to his horse. She decides to change the subject by nodding to the guns beside him, "Those rifles aren't gonna clean themselves."

Faraday looks almost appreciative of her changing the subject, and obliges to her orders, picking up another gun to wipe down with a dirty handkerchief. While inspecting the gun, he couldn't help but comment, "Six pounds of pressure."

"Sorry?" Matilda asks.

"That's all that's required to kill a man," he explains to her, setting down the gun but letting his fingers graze it for a moment, a haunting expression crossing his face, "And they say the nightmares never go away."

Tilda slowly nods, understanding what he was getting at before feeling a little curious, "Those nightmares, they keep you up often, Mister Faraday?"

At first, he doesn't speak, doesn't even look up at her until it was finally his turn to change the subject, "... What about you? Why are you hear fighting this battle? It's none of your business either."

She bites her lip, sighing in defeat while setting down her rifle, turning fully to Faraday with her hands on her hips, "How's this, I'll let you show me a magic trick if I never have to explain my sob story to you."

The gambler almost laughed a little too hard, and it made Matilda smile in response while Faraday nods of approval, "Deal."

They had sat down across from each other in this mess of an operation Matilda had set up in the entry of the hotel. Amongst boxes and guns and paper, Faraday sat leaning towards the woman, shuffling his cards and asking her the routinely questions into picking her own card. She was uncontrollably smiling, amused by how happy and almost giddy the grown man gets whenever he takes out a deck. While watching his fingers work in miraculous ways, Matilda couldn't help but notice how different Faraday was to other magicians. She's seen other cowboys try to woo women with their tricks and cards, but she herself has always been able to debunk their moves and see how they work their gimmicks.

But Faraday's card tricks were real magic as Tilda notices how he never marks a place in the deck and how his sleeves are always rolled up and out of the way in case he decides to ever sneak or tuck a card up there.

He was shuffling his cards again after a dozen times of him showing Tilda a bunch of tricks when he notes that she always wore boots, pants and a skirt over that.

"Why do you dress like that? Must be boiling underneath all those fabrics."

"So I can ride a horse and run on my own, and the skirt is just so that no one could criticize or judge me because I am a woman who wears pants."

Instead of hearing a joke or remark, Matilda is rewarded with a wide smile within Faraday's beard. A smile of respect and appreciation no doubt.

~~~~~~~~~

"Bogue will come from the south." Sam announces on one of their afternoons of meeting up to discuss plans, "Now, he'll prefer high ground, but we'll try to lure him into town, turn it into a shooting gallery. Now, if we can create enough confusion, maybe we can get them to break ranks."

"That's a lotta open space here, Sam. I don't really see a way to keep 'em out." Faraday intervenes.

"We're not. We're gonna let 'em in." Vasquez, Emma and other townspeople hanging out in the saloon look up at Sam's words, never expecting a plan like that and even a bit of doubt was found in their eyes.

"Yes, yes, we force 'em down through here, leave this open here, make this into a graveyard," Horne suggests later on as the team is walking through town to map out the area.

"Goodnight, you're our best shot with a rifle," Sam puts his hand on Goody's shoulder, while the Cajun just nods, not noticing the suspicious glance Faraday wore, "You find high ground that gives you a clear line of sight, you keep Bogue in your sights once the chaos starts."

"Now, we have some shotguns. We can get the men who can't shoot, place 'em in front of each door," Goodnight points out afterward, motioning towards each entryway they passed, "It's hard to miss a doorway."

"We could dig trenches. Shoot all the way out that way." Horne extends his arms out in one direction to prove his point.

"Trouble with taking one of these positions, you can't ever get down," Goodnight notes to Vasquez while looking around at the built-up balconies amongst all the buildings.

"Now, whatever happens, Bogue can't leave." Sam enunciates every word of that command to each of his allies sitting around the table.

"How do we even know Bogue's gonna show?" Faraday asks with doubt.

"He'll show."

"And if he just shoots you in the head?"

"Then just shoot him in the head. Hell, I don't know, avenge me," Matilda raises her eyebrows while exchanging a look with Faraday and Vasquez just smiles out of amusement, "If we can lure him into the bottleneck, close the door behind him, each group fire and advance, we stand a chance. Worst-case scenario, all is lost and we blow the mine."

"This right here is the best spot," Goodnight points out the barely standing church, still charred up from its recent horrors with a fire, "Can we take position up there? Is it safe? Anything left up there to stand on?"

As they enter the church, they inspect its support beams before Sam orders Red Harvest and Matilda to climb up onto the steeple. Being the most agile of the group, the two youngest members start to climb and see if the remains of the wood are able to hold them up.

"Won't have to go too far to pray for forgiveness," Faraday tells Vasquez, making the Mexican chuckle.

"But there is no forgiveness for men like you, _güero_." He snorts, Faraday's tone grows flat as he kicks at a stray board.

"Don't call me gero. What's gero mean, anyway? Handsome? Debonair?"

"Yeah, something like that," Vasquez answered sarcastically, making both him and Faraday chuckle. As Sam looks through the spaces to see Billy mapping out the area outside, Matilda and Red come jumping down from their perch, Red Harvest being generous enough for once to wait and see if the woman needed help getting down, but she appeared fine on her own.

"It's stable," she informs Sam, and he turns to her while she continued, "Even jumped on it a few times just to be sure. But given Goody's age, we might need some rope he could use to hoist himself up."

"Much obliged, Miss Persuasion," Goodnight muttered in dissatisfaction, only scoffing when Tilda winked at him in response.

"No, this is our stronghold. You funnel them all towards the church."

"Where am I?" Emma asks back at the saloon during the meeting.

"You keep the women and children safe and out of harm-!"

"I aim to fight." She states sternly, Matilda giving her a pitied look while Sam appeared keen on keeping this the plan.

"Well, if it comes to that, then we're all dead, ain't we?"

"Sam-!" One side glare from Sam made Matilda shut up, leaning back in her chair and avoiding the confrontation. There's tension within the room and Sam refused to look back at Emma, while she slowly walks away without arguing and no one dared to speak, except Vasquez, who only spoke in his Native tongue as he stood up.

_"Let's hope if we die, we've confessed."_

The others follow, standing up and grabbing their hats and jackets while making it towards the door.

"Goody," Goodnight looks up at Sam's voice, "You all right?"

He only nods while following the others out the door, getting ready for the hard working day ahead.

"What do you say, Sam, about 50 or 75 yards out?" Goodnight does decide to talk later as all seven men and woman decide to measure and map out their trenches, Sam signaling them to stop while looking through a telescope.

"That's our trench," then Jack takes charge of the project, being the only one suited for it as he marks their place. "Ditches on each side! The rest of y'all stand to the side!" He orders the men that have come to join them with shovels.

"We're gonna need another ditch by the livery," Goodnight informs Sam, Vas, and Billy while the others get to work. He marks down a spot on one of the more intricate maps Matilda had drawn out for them, pointing at it so the others know, "See that?"

As most of the seven men work out on the trenches, Teddy has been assigned to grab a group of people to hammer down a few boards in each window to provide protection for the sharpshooters that'll be firing through the buildings. Billy helps with the sharpshooters up on the balconies, helping with putting down sandbags in place and instructing where to settle their weapons on the railing.

Meanwhile, at the school, the children had another job entirely for this battle. They were given pinwheels and were told to paint them red.

"Make sure you paint the whole thing." One woman instructs as she and a few other women helped the children out, Emma staring out the window to see Sam leave instructions for Red Harvest, while the Indian pulls himself up onto the bare back of his horse and runs off, most likely going to scout ahead and see when Bogue's men would be getting here.

After some hours of digging trenches, Faraday and Vasquez decide to team up and wire up a few buildings with dynamite. While messing with the fuses and gunpowder, Faraday just happened to have a roll of a cigarette in his mouth, while Vasquez couldn't help but point it out.

"Very smart, smoking, huh?"

"So says the man with cigars in his mouth from dusk till dawn," Matilda teases as she walks up with another box of dynamite in her arms for the two men to use.

Faraday notices her as he takes the cigarette out of his mouth, looking between the box of fuses and his smoke, before deciding to fling it over and hit Vas' shoulder with it. The smoke bounces off and hits the ground, all the while Vasquez notices and hurriedly tries to stomp the smoke out. Faraday turns back to Matilda and winks at her. She rolls her eyes and walks off, leaving her dynamite behind for them. The Irishman starts getting back to work and noticed the irritated glare Vas was giving him.

"What?"

~~~~~~~~~

Goodnight had Horne take a horse and ride around the town, all the while the Cajun would time the Tracker with his pocket watch. When Jack came back from his ride, Goodnight stops the watch with a discouraged look.

"Three minutes."

"That's too much land to cover." Jack cries out of exhaustion.

Vasquez finds himself being given another task of hard labor, stripping himself to only wear an undershirt and pants to avoid the grime and the heat. They had cut down trees and were taking all the trunks, sticks and logs into the barn for some cutting, sawing, and shaping, Vas being chosen to do some of the heavy liftings along with the schoolteacher's boy, Anthony.

And from nearly dusk until dawn, Horne would keep having the men assist him with the trenches, determined to make this plan work. Even as the sun went down, the men worked tirelessly long hours until their task was done.

After the sun went down, Matilda brought herself to do some of the more indoor work since there weren't many chores to do outside where it was too dark to see. She was going over the weapons one last time, having the men line up behind a table, across from her, as she gives them last second lessons to each individual gun, reminding them of every important information there was to know how to and how not to shoot.

While preparing some of the guns for the men, Matilda is approached by Faraday from behind and she sucks in a sharp breath, her whole body stiffens when his hand just barely touches her waist while reaching for a gun on the table, seeing that the countertop was the same height as her hip. The heat from his chest could be felt on her back, being so close to her without ever touching. He lingered there, his hand unbearably close while reaching for a gun, chills going down Tilda's neck where his breath caught in her hair. She could feel a white-hot warmth in her stomach, feeling this closeness to be no doubt intentional without being obvious. Then suddenly, it goes away once Faraday had grabbed a gun and moved to stand at her side, about a foot away from her. He starts handing the guns out to the men with Tilda as if nothing had happened, but as she let her breath she was holding out she could see the mischievous glint in his eye.

And then even still with all that hard work, there were still two days left before Doomsday...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really do enjoy writing Mag 7 works. I first started this story on Wattpad and I was discouraged since the fandom isn't particularly large there. But HERE, on Archive, it's a treasure trove and I'm genuinely happy to be able to share my works with you all <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has to be one of my most favorite chapters to have written. Enjoy!

By the end of the day after a week of planning, after the trenches have been dealt with, there were now miners and war veterans camping just outside of town, and the people of Rose Creek appear to be a lot more alive and celebratory than usual. There were violins being strung and people laughing echoing through the evening air, bouncing off the tavern walls. One of the loudest laughs just so happened to come from some very drunk men who were hired to protect this town.

"Where did them eggs come from?"

Jack Horne laughed the loudest, Goodnight running out of air alongside him while slapping Billy's back, who ate silently. Across the table, Matilda was hiding her laugh with her hand while chewing her food, meanwhile, Vasquez was openly laughing with a mouth full of eggs.

"The chicken's ass, you dummy." Faraday was cracking a joke as per usual, laughing like a little kid with all of the whiskey to help him while Tilda tossed some bread at him out of her drunkenness. 

"Did I introduce you to my wife?" Faraday asked the people sitting around the table with him while standing up, taking out the peacemaker with the white-bone handle for display, "Her name is Ethel, and I love her~!"

"Hello, Ethel. Charmed." Goodnight, being as drunk as he may be, happily obliged talking to the gun, while Billy just kept on eating beside him.

Teddy looked over his shoulder from where he sat across the room, observing the strange men and a clearly loud, drunk woman as Faraday continued, "And I consider her to be the love of my life. And she is a no-bullshitter, she's a straight shooter."

As Matilda and Vas snort out of amusement, Faraday raises his pistol and aims out of sight, while Jack tries to talk him out of it, the alcohol most likely wearing off of the older man, "All right, calm down, now. Put the gun away, son."

"Her name is Ethel. And you'll show her some goddamn respect." Faraday slurred in a slightly more serious tone, putting his favorite gun away.

"Yeah," Jack muttered, keeping a straight, almost disappointed face on while being sick of Faraday's shit.

Faraday then takes out his other pistol, a more run down and older gun, "It's Maria you can disrespect."

Goody and Vas start laughing again, while Tilda drunkenly helps herself to some of Billy's food (he didn't seem to mind) and Jack frowns with tiresome eyes.

"Don't tell Ethel about Maria." Faraday joked with a heavy, out-of-breath laugh while putting his gun away.

"Wait, wait, wait," Vas tried playing off as serious while looking up at Faraday, " _My_ Maria, cabron? Hm?"

"You have a Maria?" Faraday asked quietly, his tone had gone soft and almost sad. Goodnight and Matilda watched intently as if watching their favorite soap opera, Billy looking at Vas expectedly, waiting for the punch line.

Vasquez started to laugh, holding up three fingers full of scrambled egg scraps, "I have three Marias!"

Both him and Faraday start laughing like children, almost like they have been friends for years while Horne just scolds them.

"That's not right."

As he continues to lecture The two young men, Goodnight's mood appeared to have changed as he leans over to Billy with a haunted look, "The owl followed me here."

Billy barely looked over his shoulder before bluntly commenting, "Nothing's following you."

"I heard the voice."

"Goody..."

"I heard the voice."

"Goody." The assassin spoke more sternly, only to be interrupted again.

"Billy, I heard it. I pull that trigger in violence again, I'm gonna die a ghastly death, Billy. I heard it." As Goody's whole body appeared to be shaking with anxiety, Billy lit a match with the edge of his boot and then went to light a cigarette. He inhaled the smoke before passing it on to Goodnight, sighing out a small comfort to his friend, "They're just dreams, Goody."

"Same thing, it's not the same thing." Jack Horne continues to lecture in the background.

"Yeah, it is," Vas mumbled between bites of food.

"No, a woman's a woman, a gun's a gun, in the Lord's eye. I'm sure this makes Miss Crawford very uncomfortable."

"Thank you, Jack. But I don't mind." Matilda smiled softly, thanking Horne for keeping her dignity with just her eyes.

"You talk about guns, you talk about women, you talk about 'em separately. It ain't right." Horne muttered.

"Sure it is. Sure it is, my friend." Vas keeps saying while still shoveling his mouth full of scrambled eggs.

Jack's expression went somber as he explains a bit about himself, "I had a wife once. Had a family. Had some children, too. One time." This explanation makes Vas pause with his eating and Faraday with his jokes, both men looking at Jack with sad features.

Matilda reaches over to pat Jack's shoulder just as the woman Leni walks forward and sets down Horne's old and tattered vest for him, "Now the stitching'll outlast you, I imagine."

Vasquez's both eyes and mouth widen, looking between her and Jack with big eyes as the old tracker obliges to his things, "That's very nice of you. I didn't ask you to do that."

"I didn't ask you to ask." She replied, almost smugly. As she stood there awkwardly, earning stares from Jack's friends while he didn't acknowledge her anymore, she decides to swiftly walk away and Jack points at Vas without looking up.

"You quit staring. I didn't ask her to do that."

But Vasquez couldn't help himself, he had to make a comment, "Well, the lady just did some poking and sticking for you. Maybe you should consider returning the favor, you know?" He breaks out into laughter, Tilda gasping in astonishment to the outlaw's twisted sense of humor.

"Vasquez! I didn't know you had it in you!" She suddenly whips out a grin while Faraday closes his eyes to laugh, his shoulders and head shaking.

Goodnight laughs along with them and finally, even Billy breaks out into a grin, Horne looking embarrassed and a little mad as he tips down a bottle of liquor, muttering,

"Okay, all right."

~~~~~~~~~

"Here we go. Easy. Easy."

"Steady."

"Throw me the other end!"

"Here you go. Okay, pues."

"That far enough?"

The next morning, most of the townsmen were found with the seven hired men and woman, helping with bringing up the bell to the church's steeple in all of its glory. Sam and Vas help bring the bell up from the ground with the Preacher speculating beside them. Pulling the rope tied around the bell to hoist the massive piece of metal up was Horne, Billy, Tilda, and Faraday, each of them wearing one less strip of clothing than usual.

"That'll do! All right, two or three more of those, then we're good. That's it, right there."

"Look. Look. Look." Emma tries getting Leni's baby to stare up at the bell's magnificence as it's finally extended up into the air, then being put back onto a pulley by Teddy Q, Goodnight, and Josiah from up in the steeple.

"Watch your head now, Teddy," Goody instructed while he and Josiah tie a knot around the base of the bell to keep it propped up.

"Now you can pray for us, Father," Vasquez says to the Preacher as the old man in a sling reaches out to shake Horne's hand after they had finished their task.

"My brother, I will pray for you until I forget how to pray." The man spoke with much appreciation.

"Water, Mister Chisolm?" A small boy asks the bounty hunter while holding up a bucket of water. Sam just pats the boy's head while staring up at the bell.

"This is a grand day in the history books of Rose Creek!" The Preacher proclaimed loudly to the people walking by as they awed at their old bell.

"God bless you, Mister Chisolm, sir."

"Vindication, brothers and sisters!"

"Water, Mister Horne?"

"Thank you, miss." Jack leans down to the young girl who offered him a drink from her bucket, then she moves on to the next hard working advocate.

"Water, Miss Crawford?" Matilda looked down to see a young girl with curly blond hair offer her a bucket of water.

She smiled through the sweat that had drenched her white undershirt and long, loose hair, "Why, thank you, young lady."

Tilda takes the wooden ladle and scooped up some water, tilting her head back and taking a long sip of the cool and refreshing liquid. Some of it spills and runs down her neck and through the front of her shirt, but she didn't seem to mind as she sighs out of content after taking the ladle away from her lips. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and smiles down at the girl.

"What's your name, sweetie?"

"Amelia." The girl spoke quietly.

"What a lovely name. Where're your parents?"

"My mother is helping the other kids with their pinwheels while my pa is helping with the trenches."

"I see." Matilda sets the ladle back in the girl's bucket and pats her head to send her off to offer water to other thirsty workers. The girl does so but pauses while walking away and comes strolling back with her bucket still in her hands.

"...Miss Crawford? Can I ask you something?"

Matilda looks back down from the church bell and smiles, "Of course."

Amelia ducks her head, ashamed, "My parents are scared. _I'm_ scared. How is it you got to be so brave?"

Matilda's eyes widen while staring down at the young girl, quite shocked by this question. No one has ever asked her how she became who she was today, and the question stopped her in her tracks. Suddenly unfreezing from her astonished state, she smiles and kneels down to the girl's height.

"Amelia... I'm going to tell you something that I've never told anyone else... But it's okay to be scared."

Faraday looks up from wrapping a bandage around a bloodied, splintered hand he earned from rope burn and listens in as Matilda's voice lowers.

"When I was a girl, my father gave me this," she shows her arm, and to Amelia and Faraday's amazement, a bullet-shaped scar was found running down her skin, "Since then, he's given me plenty more. But I like to think of them as good luck charms. Whenever I was scared or tired, I felt better if I touched them. Throughout my childhood, my mother told me I attract men like my father. And she was right."

Then, Matilda lifts up her skirt and pant leg a little to show a raised rope burn scar around her ankle, "My husband gave me this, along with many other good luck charms to add to what I got from my father." She looks up and gently takes Amelia's shoulders, "I'm telling you all of this because you're already a brave girl when you admit that you are scared. Don't ever forget that."

After Amelia leaves with a heavyweight now lifted off her shoulders, Matilda is standing up and wiping off the sweat from her hands onto her skirt when someone pokes the side of her bare neck.

"What's that one from?"

Matilda looked up to see Faraday not meeting her gaze but was busying himself with some rope he was winding back up into a lasso. His eyes squint underneath the brim of his hat, either from the sun or from the grim details of Matilda's story he eavesdropped on.

Tilda reached up to touch the scar in the space between her shoulder and neck, where Faraday had just poked her. She looked away, "My husband liked branding with hot pokers."

Faraday barely looked up to catch a glimpse of her left hand, "You don't wear a ring."

"I'm divorced. Not many people would help a woman leave her husband... But Sam did. He saw right through me and saved my life from that Hell of a marriage. He shot him dead and told the sheriff he killed a justified criminal."

Faraday watched as Matilda observed Sam over by the preacher, "That's why I'm here. Not just because of this town, but I owe that man a lifetime of service."

The gambler doesn't respond, respecting the amount of information Matilda had already given him that she no doubt wouldn't have told a couple of nights before.

"For God's glory!" Faraday could still hear the Preacher admiring and praising the steeple.

Suddenly, there was the sound of hooves as they entered the town, everyone turning to see a single horse with a red skin riding bareback coming towards the church. Sam wore a somber face as Red Harvest dismounted from his steed, out of breath as he spoke in Comanche.

_"Bogue comes with his men."_

_"When?"_

_"Dawn."_

This news drives every one to be silent, before all heads turn up at the sound of the bell, vibrating off of a hammer. Josiah the schoolteacher raises the hammer, and the chime itself is the only reminder needed to ease everyone's worry, as now they finally believe that they are ready for war.

~~~~~~~~~

Late that very evening, Matilda finds herself leaning against a post leading into the Imperial Saloon, once again standing across from Vasquez leaning against another pole and Faraday seated in a rocking chair beside them. Jack was leaning against the saloon wall beside him while Red Harvest stood closest to the entrance. None of them spoke as if they knew a grave decision was coming, and Faraday tried avoiding it while playing with his cards, hoping the others would gladly be distracted by it.

Their nightmares were heard as they hear the trotting of hooves rise up against the muttering prayers of the townsfolk from across the road. The team's head turns to find Goodnight riding off into the night, slipping away from their sight and their lives. They see Sam follow Goody out, watching him leave before turning to the others and walking up the steps to the porch. Everyone refrained from making eye contact with him as he spoke.

"You all right?" When no one answered him, he looked around, not seeing one but now _two_ bodies missing from his group, "Well... Where's Billy?"

"It looks like he's started to drink," Jack noted while looking over his shoulder to peer into the window of the saloon, spotting Billy knock back a shot with his back turned.

"All right." Sam spoke gravelly while addressing what was left of his recruited men and woman, "Well... Anybody else wants to leave, now's the time. No one'll hold no ill will towards you."

"What about you?" Vasquez asks Sam while inspecting his cigar, never looking up at the bounty hunter.

"I believe I'm gonna see this through. These people deserve their lives back." Sam answered without hesitation.

The six of them are quiet once again before Vasquez breaks the silence, "I have nowhere else to go, so I'm in."

Sam looks to Matilda, his gaze softened as she looked at Vas and Faraday, both men not noticing her eyes on them. Sam could tell that she had made a family among this group of men, and as it was starting to look like a beautiful future for her, tomorrow it might just all come crumbling down. Sam has seen first hand how far she's come from that broken girl he met all those years ago, and to see the vulnerability in her eyes tonight as she stared at her two partners in crime, Chisolm knew his old friend would never sleep tonight knowing what would be taken from her come this time tomorrow.

Matilda's heavy eyes meet Sam's, and she swallows back something hard in her throat as she struggled to say something. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You know, I knew that tomorrow was gonna be a dark day." Sam turns to the sound of Jack's voice, "And now that there's one less of us, gonna be darker. But to be in the service of others with men that I respect, like you all..."

There's a cough amongst the men and Jack couldn't help but smile softly, "And of course you most of all, Miss Crawford." The woman laughs gently while letting him continue, "Well, I shouldn't have to ask for more than that." When Chisolm looked up to see Red Harvest, the young man only gives him a hard stare, and there was a silent agreement between them that no one else could understand. But Sam knew, Red wasn't going anywhere either.

And so Sam was left to look at Faraday, who has been the quietest he has ever been since the first time he had met him. The younger cowboy looked up to see Sam looking at him and for a second, just a second, Sam saw those green eyes shift over to his left, where a certain young woman was leaning on a post beside Vasquez. Faraday never said a word, not even a nod, because just by the look in his eye, Sam knew...

That wherever Tilda goes, Faraday goes.

"I'll see you in the morning," Sam mutters as he walks off towards the church, now that the people of Rose Creek were dispersing from it.

Matilda appeared unaware of the silent conversation between Chisolm and Faraday, looking up from handing Vas a match for his cigar, "All right."

Faraday gets up from his seat to watch Chisolm leave, a hard, almost curious look sketched on his face while Red Harvest grunts to break the silence,

"I'm hungry."

Vasquez nearly drops his cigar while Matilda's jaw falls to the floor, both staring at the young Native American in pure shock.

"Wait. Hell, you speak English?" Horne asked with a sharp tone.

Vas says something in Spanish out of the surprise Red had given him, Matilda letting out a breathy laugh as a small smile appeared on her face.

Red looked between the three of them with a smug expression while getting up to walk into the saloon, "Some."

Jack breaks into what could only be described as fond laughter as he followed Red Harvest inside, Vasquez pushing himself off his post to follow as well, "You little shit. We got a lot to talk about. Don't walk away from me!"

Matilda pushes herself off of her own post once the others went back inside, walking up behind Faraday and touching the back of his arm, noticing how deep in thought he was.

"Hey."

He blinked out whatever was on his mind and looked over his shoulder at her, while she just smiles softly and draws her hand from him, hugging herself in the cool night air while motioning towards the saloon door with the tilt of her head.

He hesitates, looking back towards the direction where Goody and now Sam have disappeared than turned back to Matilda, nodding his head slightly as he followed her into the saloon. There, they find that Billy was still drinking, and almost as a way to comfort him, Jack and Vas sit down with him for a drink or two while Red Harvest finds some food to eat behind the car as Horne lectures him out.

Matilda finds herself sitting on the other side of Billy, her hand running circles in his back while reaching over and grabbing the big bottle of whiskey, pushing it out of the assassin's reach. Faraday lets her comfort the grieving man, while he himself sits down to continue with his cards, away from the others.

"This is the one time where I couldn't follow him," Billy mutters softly, only allowing Tilda to hear him.

She wears a look of concern, contemplating whether she should bring it up or not, but it might help, "Just out of curiosity, weren't you scared that Goody might leave you back in Volcano Springs?"

Billy shrugged, "Even if he did, I would have tracked him down. But this time... This time I need to think for myself, and what I _need_ is to stay here and help these people. And if Goodnight Robicheaux isn't going to, then..."

His voice breaks, and from the sound he makes when saying Goody's full name, Matilda knew it was time to get him to put down his drink and bring him to bed.

"Come on, Rocks," she soothes, standing up and patting his back, "You need to sleep off your hangover before morning. Tomorrow you're going to need every fiber in your body ready to move."

It took some effort, but eventually, she had Billy stumbling up the stairs and into a separate room. Once she knows he was comfortable and didn't have any liquor hiding under the floorboards, Matilda closed the door to Billy's room behind her and started making her way back down the stairs. On her way down, she meets up with Red Harvest and Vasquez also trying to get to their rooms without stumbling from exhaustion. Jack Horne was nowhere to be found, and so Matilda assumed that he must have made camp out in the fields down by the river. He was used to sleeping outdoors, and so was Red, but he was starting to grow accustomed to the feather beds.

Matilda nods her head towards the two young men and tries to work her way past them, but not before Vas gently grabbed her arm to stop her. She looks up to meet his dark eyes peering underneath the brim of his hat, and she must have looked surprised since this just could be the first time Vasquez ever made direct eye contact with her. And in her thoughts, that was progress that could lead to trust. And trust to friendship.

"Promise me one thing, that you'll take care of my horse out there tomorrow?" Vas whispered gently, and Tilda could tell by the look on his face that he, indeed, trusted her. Not just with his horse, but with his life if it ever came down to it.

"I promise, Vas." She smiled, nodding her head, "Night."

After Vasquez and Red retire to bed, Matilda makes it down the stairs to find that Faraday was still there, idly shuffling his cards without a care in the world. The sight almost looked a little sad to Tilda but tries not to show it when he suddenly looks up to meet her gaze.

"Care for Round Two?"

The saloon was dead to the world, not many bodies were left keeping the place warm as everyone had finally turned into a bed with heavy hearts. No one blamed them, of course, because in the morning Bogue's men were supposed to arrive. Everyone wanted to rest up, though everyone could silently agree that they were too nervous to get rest tonight, they all had reluctantly left the saloon anyway. And so, Faraday and Matilda were once again alone, playing some round of cards across the table from each other, their hats put aside and small empty glasses faced down on the table.

Faraday found himself more distracted then he usually would during a card game. It was his last night, however, and he wanted to spend it practically smitten by the woman sitting across from him. His chin rests on the palm of his hand, he smiles with such an affinity the corners of his lips started to ache. He observed the way she was concentrating down at the cards in front of her, his own deck forgotten as they lay out across from him, so she was clearly cheating. But she wasn't making any complaints. Faraday's green eyes dazzled with admiration as her hair had been let out of today's hardworking braid and slightly curled over her shoulders. He could sacrifice one minute of letting the people of Rose Creek see this sheet of human in him. Usually, his face was stone cold, or grinning like a sly fox, as a way of intimidating the folks around here, but for a moment he lets his guard down, staring at the independent woman he's been trying to woo since the day he met her.

"Tilly..."

She sighs, irritated with the childish nickname he had given her the first day they met, and ignores him, staring down at her cards thoughtfully. Faraday doesn't consider it, still smiling with a fondness so warm and inviting, she was missing out from not looking into his green eyes.

_"Tilda..."_

She pauses, hearing a different tone in his voice that finally makes her look up at Faraday and when she does she finally noticed the stare he was blanketing her with. Her cheeks heat up slightly, the warm light of a tiny candle thankfully hiding it from view. They lock eyes and Faraday takes that as a sign to continue.

"Since I might die tomorrow...is it safe to tell you that you are the most beautiful woman I've ever met?"

Matilda's eyes only widen, her mouth opening and closing while trying to find something to say, but nothing comes out. She was astonished, to say the least, knowing Faraday just enough to know that he isn't usually like this, and she thought that he might be drunk. But honestly, when is he not?

"You kill me." He said with such sincerity and praise, the endearment in his eyes made Tilda's stomach feel warm, like a cloud of honey. It was reminding her about earlier this week when he had gotten very close to her as they went around passing guns out to the farmers.

Her neck heats up along with the rest of her face when she thought of the memory, her chest fighting for the air it lost only moments before. She finally makes a decision instead of just letting Faraday's words cling to the night air, and she huffs in defeat. Slowly, she sets down her cards.

When Tilda makes a motion to get off her chair, Faraday could've sworn that she was going to walk away. But instead, Matilda thought that walking around was too much work for her and so she pushed her cards aside as she climbed onto the table on all fours. On her hands and knees, she makes her way across the table, Faraday leaning back to watch, their eyes never leaving each other as she reaches him, her hand finding the back of his neck to bring him up for a tender, mesh of kisses. Smooth and perfectly fitting together, they kiss for the longest of time, without breath and she goes to slip off the table and onto his lap. In the process, however, she knocks over his cards using her skirt that covered her pants and he finally breaks away from the more than enjoyable kiss to catch his breath, his hands gripping her clothed thighs as he whines playfully,

"But I was winning..."

She lets out a breathy laugh, leaning down for another kiss, her breath hitting his chin while she spoke for the first time since this started, "You don't consider _this_ as a win?"

He most certainly did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a scene in this chapter inspired by a scene that took place in Chris Pratt's and Jennifer Lawrence's film, Passengers. Can you spot it?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Definitely the longest chapter so far. Enjoy!

Fairly early the next morning, hours before all hell was set to break loose, Faraday made the decision to go fishing, a special trait of his that he hasn't put into good use for a long while. He catches a couple of fish almost right away, and as the sun was slowly starting to rise, he decided not to waste the fish and find someone to dine with him. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Jack Horne's tent not far from the riverside, and so Faraday strings up the fish and trudged his way through the long grass to make it to the burly man's campsite. All the while, he tried calling out his name, but Jack was fast asleep, his hat hiding his face. When Faraday reached him, he kicked his shin.

"Horne!"

The man springs up, his gun being drawn out of thin air and pointed at Faraday from pure surprise, "What the hell?"

"Catfish." Faraday quips while holding up his prize, his grin so wide and happy, like a little boy trying to make a parent proud.

Horne observes the situation, then he lets his guard down as he lowers the gun, "Well, that looks like breakfast."

Faraday laughs while walking around the makeshift fire Horne had created, "Yessir."

"I didn't know whether to shoot ya or shit myself."

Both break out into laughter and quickly get to work on breakfast before the day's big event came into play. Getting the fire started again, Jack took a handful of powder out from his pocket.

"Look, now back away, son."

Horne throws the powder into the fire, causing the flames to spread out and grow a little hotter. "There you go. Oh, this is gonna be nice."

"Yeah, well you got it figured out, out here." Faraday states while laid out, lounging in the grass as he looked around the camp, "I might just move out here with ya."

"Well, I could use the conversation. Haven't had company for a while."

"The great Jack Horne," Faraday announced while deep in thought.

"Mm."

"All those books I read about you never said anything about a family." Faraday rubbed his eye while looking back up at the older man, remembering the conversation that struck the topic of Horne's family from last night.

Horne turned to silence, running the words over in his head before responding, "Well, I lost my family."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"They meant a lot to me..." Horne mumbles while staring at the fire, before looking back at the younger man, voice a little lighter than before, "And I hold them with me." Keeping a weather eye on Faraday's behavior and posture, he follows up with questions of his own, "You? Children? Wife?"

Faraday scratches his beard, avoiding Horne's eyes as he looked about, "I had a mother."

"Yeah?"

"Well, I didn't fall from a horse's ass."

Horne's laugh nearly shakes the ground, enjoying this particular company that made him laugh harder than he's ever laughed before.

"I might have a couple of kids." Faraday takes a step further in the joke, but only finds himself laughing.

Jack, on the other hand, had stopped, giving Faraday a warning tone, "Yeah, you were funny up to that point."

Faraday shrugs as a sign that he tried, as they continue to cook their breakfast in silence before Horne spoke up again, "What about you and Miss Crawford?"

The young gambler all but perks up at her name, flashes of last night running through his mind, "What about her?"

"You two appear to be close now. And after I left the tavern last night... Well, I couldn't help but notice that Matilda was alone with you."

Faraday scoffs at the way Horne words it gently and lowers his hat a little more over his eyes, "Yeah..."

"She someone you would... leave behind to take care of a bunch of your own offspring all by her lonesome?" Jack interrogated more than asked, trying to dig up a little light on this subject.

"Hell no, she doesn't seem like that type of a woman anyhow." Faraday was quick to answer, almost too quick, "Tilda's been through enough from what she's told me. She doesn't need a family to hold her down, and certainly not a family from _me_."

Horne hums as he sat with his thoughts while poking around the fire with a stick, "Well, she may be the type to never settle down, but neither were you when I first met ya. But now... You're different."

Faraday looks up from the fire to see Horne staring at him with a knowing smile, and it takes everything inside the young magician not to smile back. Instead, he shrugs, his voice shadowing a tone of sincerity, "Maybe all it takes is meeting the right person."

"Amen to that," Horne's smile widens to a point where all you saw was bright teeth as he stared up at the sky, "You a religious man?"

"God, hell no."

Horne nearly stuttered, but it didn't stop him from his idea, "I feel like saying a prayer."

"Why?" Faraday nearly whined like a child, almost like he had been forced to wake up this morning and go to Sunday school.

"Well, I feel thankful."

"Just thank me I'm the one who caught the fish-"

"Come on, sit up." Horne grabs the other man's shoulder and pulls him up.

"-and brought the salt and pepper." Faraday continued to complain as he was forced up into a sitting position.

"Take your hat off." Jack knocks Faraday's hat off before he bowed his head, still gripping Faraday's shoulder so he couldn't get away.

"Oh, boy," Faraday muttered.

"Heavenly Father," Horne began, "This prayer's for your holy son. And we give thanks and gratitude for him giving his life for us. Amen."

He pats Faraday's back before the younger man stands up to grab some more wood to put into the fire, the older man chuckling in amusement.

"Praying make you feel better?" Faraday snaps a stick and tosses it into the fire, leaning against the tent as he does so, "After you kill all those Indians, you pray?"

"Prayer is a powerful thing, son." Horne's once joyful tone drops to more of a wise lecture.

"I suppose when we save this town, all these people are gonna thank God and not us," Faraday said flatly.

"Cause he sent us."

"He sent _you_. I came because I owed a man a horse."

Jack leans back on his hands, looking up at the young man whose looks have so many stories behind those eyes, that look like they've been hurt and need fixing from God himself, "Yeah, that's your story."

~~~~~~~~~

Upon hearing the first chimes of the church bell, warning the entire town of what's to come, people could find poor Emma kneeling over her husband's grave, crying quietly to herself while rocking her body for comfort, dreading for this day since it was just another day without Matthew.

Billy was in a similar state of Missus Cullen, only he pretended like he wasn't grieving over the abandonment of his own Goodnight. Instead, he took his horse and did a once-over of the town, making sure everything was in order before the fight was brought to them.

Red Harvest could be found over by the small streams, brandishing a few more arrows for good measure while taking in whatever peace and quiet he could get.

Faraday was leaning against the wall of a makeshift shed, just a little outside of town. Looking up from making boot patterns in the dirt, he spots Rose Creek, just below the rising sun, and pictures what it might be like after Bogue is gone.

Horne had dismissed Faraday from his makeshift home the minute they heard the ring of the church bell, the sign of warning them that they have company a little over the horizon. Horne douses the fire, saying last-minute prayers of his own before he had to gear up and join his men out in the trenches. He stared up at the sky, a bright, hopeful look on his face, "Thank you for the strength that you have given me."

Vasquez takes a deep breath of his smoke before exhaling, trudging into the church where men were hustling about at the tone of the bell, "It's time." He barks to the others, before looking over his shoulder and meeting eyes with Matilda, who stood leaning into the shadows. The look alone is enough, knowing that this might be the last time the two friends ever see each other before the fight. Tilda only nods, loading the double-barrel rifle in her hands before running out of the church, wanting to make sure that the women and children were safely hidden before she would make it up to her perch on the rooftops with Red Harvest.

"Come on, children!" Hank Stoner shouts as he leads the parade of children of all ages into his General Store, Leni and her baby standing just outside the doorway to make sure that there wasn't any danger approaching yet.

"Come on."

"Children, quickly, please, go on."

"Let's go."

"Come on, hurry! Hurry, children!" Leni yelled desperately over the chaos, when Emma, fully clothed in pants, boots, a skirt and a gun belt, her red hair up in a braid, motioned for Leni to get inside along with the others.

"Come on, come on," Hank orders as he opens up the cellar doors that led further underground, "Now get on down in there. Come on. Watch your step."

Emma shuts the General Store doors once Hank had gotten the rest of the women and children inside. The red-headed woman catches Tilda staring at her and nods, both women parting ways to head to their proper positions before the fight.

Tilda straps her rifle over her back so she could have her hands free to climb up onto the rooftops. She makes a sharp turn into an alley between two buildings before she grabs the walls with both hands, grunting slightly as she makes her way upwards. When she got to the top, she could clearly see Teddy Q perched above the barn and Red Harvest on the rooftops across the road. When she looked across the fields, her expression turns grim as she witnesses the long and narrow line of men on top of horses slowly approaching, taking their places upon the hillsides just peering over Rose Creek.

Josiah stops ringing the bell and quickly goes for his gun lying beside him. The preacher peers out from a boarded up window in the church and feel as though he could hold his breath all day and pray for a miracle.

As the army of Blackstone agents settles in on the upper grounds of the fields, Chisolm decides that it's time to make his presence known. Rounding the corner of a few buildings, on top of his horse, Sam trots down the dirt path and faces the army that now only stood miles away.

Bartholomew Bogue sat amongst this army, seeing his right-hand man, McCann take out a small looking glass, "Chisolm?"

"It's him, all right."

Red Harvest brings one leg up to pose over the side of the rooftop he was perched in, staring over at Tilda before observing Sam from a distance, bow propped up on his knee.

Meanwhile, in the trenches, the men were slowly getting scared and anxious, one of them muttered, "It's only a few minutes," as someone starts a few notes on their harmonica.

"Shh!" Billy hushed as a man next to the nervous musician stops him from playing. A few men start to cough from the makeshift covers of hay towering above them, keeping them hidden within the trenches, while others mutter encouragement to each other.

"We're safe. Nothing to fear."

It seems as though the entire town was holding its breath, wondering what will tomorrow be like if they win or lose.

Bogue decides just to get this over and done with, as he waves his hand to the Indian sitting beside him, "Mister Denali."

The Indian lifts his arm up, yelling over the thick silence with the shout of a warrior, breaking the trance that seems to have everyone standing in place, and now the men on horseback start to slowly break into a trot towards the small town... then they start moving into a run, until the ground started to vibrate and shake against the army of hooves charging forward.

At the sound of hooves and shouts of war, Vasquez loads his gun from his spot inside the church, the preacher not far from him as he ponders on the sounds slowly charging towards him and his fellow people.

Once Emma hears the army approaching, she lies down on her spot above the saloon, resting her gun through the railings of the balcony while patiently waiting.

"Mask up," Billy mutters the order, his face hidden from his hat and the shadow of the trenches. His men do as their told, bringing their handkerchiefs and dirty rags up to their faces, covering their noses and mouths. Not too far away, in a separate trench, Jack had just ordered his men to do the same.

"Bring 'em up!" He shouted after just peeking above the trench to see how close the enemy was.

As planned, Sam watches as the army splits up, a large group of horses moving to go around town and towards the campsites of the miners while the rest charge straight towards the town.

The men of Rose Creek are shifting their bodies inside the trenches so that they would be facing the army when the time came to fire.

Faraday leans back from peeking around the shed to see the Blackstone men inching closer, bringing a smoke up to his lips as he waited patiently.

Meanwhile, the miners wait in their tents, holding shovels, guns, and pickaxes, peeking through the torn holes in their tents and shifting nervously when the enemy drew closer.

"I'm counting!" Horne shouts through his mask as he brings up the detonator for the dynamite onto his lap, "Five..."

As the horses and men grew closer, Matilda feels her palms start to sweat and could feel her grip loosen around the rifle. Taking deep, shaking breaths, she now realized she was scared. This entire week of training for this moment, telling the people of Rose Creek not to be frightened, and _she_ was the one who was scared?

"Four..."

But then she realized after she opened her eyes, not remembering when she closed them, that there wasn't a reason to be scared up until this point. Staring out onto the fields of grain and grass, she sees a small shed that only appeared to be the size of an apple from where she stood. Tilda starts to wonder what Faraday might be thinking right now, hiding all alone in that shed, ready for the right moment to pounce.

Matilda wasn't scared before because she had nothing to lose. Now, she had _everything_ to lose.

"Three..."

As Faraday stares back up at the silhouette of the town, wondering where Matilda was in all of this, he was thinking the exact same thing.

"Two..."

And just as the approaching horses prance into the field of painted red pinwheels, all of Hell breaks loose.

"One!" Horne yells as he pounds the lever into the detonator, setting off the explosives and creating the chaos that was needed to get this war started.

The minute Billy hears the explosion, he does the exact same thing, "One!"

And for a second time in a matter of seconds, dirt was thrown up into the air along with screaming men and crying horses. Now startled, the four-legged beasts that weren't caught in the crossfire started driving their evil owners away from the battle, not wanting to be the next horse to be blown up.

"Hold! Hold!" Men in the trenches yell as the dust fell into their hiding places.

Now it was the miner's turn because just as the explosives went off, a handful of Bogue's men came trotting into the campsites, and the men hiding inside the tents take action, shooting through their tents and ambushing the Blackstone agents with their weapon of choice. While some men shot at the enemy, others just reached up and hit them with their shovels. Some of the horsemen fell from their steeds and were at the mercy of the very miners they had treated poorly, and a few even fell into the fires placed variously among the campsite.

As some of the Blackstone men were abandoned by their horses, they became frantic as they were now on a ground level with their opponents.

"Let's do it!" The men from the trenches yell, and they threw their covers back and stood up, not hesitating to shoot and kill the remaining men that were stranded and still dazed from the dynamite. Horne was among these men as he shot and killed several of Bogue's men, never missing once.

"Now!" Billy shouts as his men do the same thing.

"Come on!"

"Let's go!"

"Shoot, shoot! Dig in! Keep shooting!"

However, almost right away, Rose Creek already lost a few men, now that the Blackstone agents have cleared their heads and have been able to figure out their situation. They now see the trenches and the element of surprise has been lost to the farmers and miners.

"I got him!"

"Here they come! Stand your ground!"

Sam realizes it's his time to take action and turns his horse around, running off and leading the foolish men on horses further into the town.

"Through here, go!"

"Cut him off round that bend!"

Already, Sam has had to fire his gun and kill a few men, looking around aimlessly as they try to surround him while hiding behind buildings.

"Get him! Go!" Two men on horseback were right on Chisolm's tail, only to be mulled down by Red Harvest and Matilda shooting both bullets and arrows at them from their high-ground spots, Emma also helping out as more men cut into town.

"Watch your right!" Men yell as Billy leaps up and out of the trenches, not hesitating before he fires rapidly at the men that were getting past them and into town. He charges forward, gripping the knives from either side of his hips as he disappears into the smoke.

Some horsemen leap over the trenches, shooting at the men down below as they do so. As they get past the trenches, Bogue's men start approaching a small shed, which was the last mistake they'll ever make as suddenly Faraday appears from around the corner and fire off two shots, each from his two guns. He hits the first two men approaching, biding him enough time to take off and start running back towards the town, now that his cover has been blown.

"Shoot! Go around, fire!"

"Head him off, over there!"

Sam sees men slowly approaching from his right, guns drawn, and so he takes upon a trick he learned from Tilda and shifts his whole body to perch on the side of his horse, holding his whole weight up from his one foot in its saddle holder. Using his horse as cover, he fires back at the men, making an impact, before he jumps back fully onto his horse.

"There's another one up top!" A man shouts when he spots Red Harvest, who goes running away from the ledge to avoid being spotted. As the Blackstone goes to aim in Red's direction, he screams in agony as he is shot through the shoulder from behind. He falls from his horse while his buddies turn around to see Matilda ducking behind some boxes on top of her roof.

"Over there! There's one more!"

Meanwhile, back in the fields, still blinded by smoke, the men from the trenches have gotten up and were running through the battlefield, picking off Blackstone agents one by one. Billy slices and kills one man while throwing a knife and killing another. Stealing a gun from a man he just dropped, he aims and fires at another opponent before they could draw their own weapon.

"Although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me." Horne decides to preach as he's stomping through the battlefield, cutting down and shooting men while spewing out Bible verses.

"That's it! Unload on him!" Vasquez hears a Blackstone shout not too far away, and he peers out to see men on horses chasing after Faraday while he was on foot. Seeing Faraday run past the church to the next step of his own plan, Vasquez decides to start shooting more of the men as they run into town on their horses, mowing most of them down as they run in single file straight towards him and the church.

"I got him!" A man shouts while shooting at Faraday, but he misses as Faraday ducks down behind a pile of stacked logs.

"Here!"

"There!" More shout as they spot his hiding place, and he keeps his head low, grinning even though he was practically cornered.

Red Harvest spots a wagon of hay and fires one of his flaming arrows, hitting the hay square on and watching the wagon burst up into flames, driving the Blackstone agents off. The men on horses couldn't go forward so they start going around, but that only leads them to Matilda's perch, as this has already been planned out between her and the Indian. The two sharpshooters like playing with their food, sending each other men on horses to kill.

Sam appears on the other side of the wall of fire and helps his two younger teammates out by firing through the flames and at several of the evil men.

"Go 'round, go 'round!"

"Ain't no way through!"

Red spots one stray horseman aiming his gun right at him, but his horse appeared trapped in an alleyway since a makeshift fence was put there for trapping the men inside.

"Push the wagon!" A Rose Creek man shouts as he and a friend push another wagon right behind the stray horseman, trapping him in and giving Red Harvest the chance to dig an arrow straight through his chest.

"Get to the church!" A man screams just as he's shot through the heart by McCann, who is just arriving on the scene, and he's plowing through the farmers like they were nothing as he rides like an angry beast into town.

Faraday peeks out from his hiding spot as he pushes down on another detonator, and it goes off as smooth as he had hoped, taking out a few men and horses with the dynamite. The shock wave pushes Faraday back a little, but he's still grinning nonetheless, a rifle now in his hands.

A few men on horses circle around each other when stopped in front of the hotel, shooting across the street towards the saloon, where Emma and her sharpshooters were shooting on top of their balcony.

"Let's go, come on!"

"Now! Now!" Emma shouts her orders as they start firing down at the men.

"There's too many of 'em. They're gonna kill all of us!"

"No! No! Stay down!" She screams when one of her men foolishly stand up, only to be shot and killed in an instant.

"Keep shooting!"

Now the town was a full out war zone, full of fire, smoke, arrows, bullets, and bodies. Tilda turns around when she hears someone shouting and ducks just in time when a man who had climbed up to her roof nearly nailed her with his knife. She tackles him to the floor now that she could reach his midsection and wrestles the knife off of him. Now straddling him, she doesn't hesitate to blindly stab him repeatedly in the chest, shouting out war cries while her vision is covered by her loose hair, her ears barely processing the man's screams of agony before he died. Matilda stands up when she realized another man has climbed onto the roof with her, and before he could draw his gun, she takes out her own pistol and shoots him square in the chest. He falls down and she goes marching towards another Blackstone that could barely fully climb onto the roof before Tilda is pushing him down to his death. He screams as he falls over the side of the building, but not before he could grab Tilda's sleeve. She screams as she goes tumbling down with him, but as they fall, she got lucky and fell into an unlit wagon of hay, while her opponent broke his neck when he hit the ground.

Matilda pants, gasping for breath as the wind got knocked out of her. She didn't have a moment to regain herself as she was once again, being fired at. As her bones and lungs protest, she gets up and takes cover. She keeps her head low as she makes her way to the stables. Swinging the door open, Matilda gets to work setting some of the beasts free as they were beginning to panic and fight through their ropes and ram themselves against the walls to get out. She first tries comforting Vas' horse as promised and then her own, Nessie, in particular, sticking close to the outlaw's own steed. Tilda grabs both of their reins and leads them outside, and once they realize that it was even worse outside then it was inside the stables, the two horses start to panic even further and pull against the human holding them. She grunts, pulling at the reins one last time, ducking low when she heard a gunshot above her head before taking a deep breath. Panting through her nose, she grits her teeth and swings herself over onto Nessie's bare back, now wide open for any shots against the Blackstones. She grips the reins to Vas' horse tightly before kicking Nessie's sides, and before she knew it, they were taking off, the riderless horse racing alongside them. She promised Vas she would bring the horses to the mine, where they would be safe from the gunfight. Already waiting for them there would be Faraday's horse, Jack since his rider didn't trust anyone with his own beast. All she had to do was get the horses there and race back here to the fight where she was needed.

Sam is bursting through the doors and windows of the Restuarant on horseback, trampling and stomping one man to death before trotting up onto the porch leading to the hotel. An injured man reaches for his gun and goes to aim at Sam, but Red Harvest shoots him before doing so. Another man, wounded by an arrow, aims at Sam but Chisolm shoots him before he has the chance. The bounty hunter dismounts from his horse and uses him as a barrier to getting to the entrance of the hotel.

"What are you doing there? Get back to the livery stable! Just keep moving!" Horne shouts orders as the rest of his men start falling back and running into town.

"They're gonna kill us all!" A man runs by as Horne takes a fallen soldier's gun and shoots an oncoming Blackstone on his horse.

"We're outnumbered!"

"Go around the barn!" Blackstone agents have started shouting to one another, foreseeing their doom as they run towards a shed that stood nearby Faraday, who was still hiding behind a stack of logs.

"We're clear, we're clear!"

But not for long, as Faraday aims at a bottle of whiskey he had strung up against the shed from earlier this week, and fires. Hitting his target, the whiskey bursts into flames and the shed caught fire, blowing up and killing the few horsemen surrounding it. Now clear to stand up, Faraday does so and whoops in his own personal victory while a horse empty of its owner runs by.

Chisolm bursts through the doors of the hotel, seeing his men aiming and firing through the windows as they hid inside, "Keep shooting!" He orders while turning back to the open doorway and starts firing his rifle from there. Upon seeing one of his men from inside the hotel get shot, Chisolm takes his place and starts firing from the window.

Back at the livery stable, Horne bears witness to his sharpshooters getting mowed down from above him, and he runs back into the barn.

"Light up that wagon!" He shouts.

"They're on that roof!" Blackstone men aim at the roof of the barn, hitting Teddy and wounding him in the process.

"Push them wagons! Block 'em in!" Horne orders from inside while men from outside push the wagons around so they could trap a couple of the Blackstone agents right where they want them: in front of the barn.

"They got us trapped!"

"Ain't no way out!"

"Go go go!" Billy and his men are now also falling back, running towards the church on foot while a herd of horsemen chases them. Without even glancing, Billy spins around and fires, shooting a couple of the men on horses before falling to the ground with a grunt.

"Open 'em up!" Jack shouts and instantly the large doors to the barn open at his command. The Blackstone agents turn to come face to face with a makeshift cannon built out of a thick log. Horne pulls the plug and suddenly an explosion of shrapnel comes spewing out, cutting apart and hitting every last one of the Blackstone agents they trapped.

Meanwhile, back on the hillside where it's safe, Bogue does not like where this is going as he watches his men fail. He turns to one of the men that stayed behind with him, "Go get the wagon."

Faraday runs through a small patch of tall grass while Billy pops out from behind a building. They hear the same command, "Head to the church! Into the church!" And make a break for it, all the while being chased by more men on horses. Vasquez covers them while shooting through a window of the church then darts for the front to make sure his compadres get inside.

"Bring the fight to these cowards!"

"Yeah, let's kill these bastards!"

"Wagons! Wagons!" Billy shouts.

"Let's go."

"Hurry, _güero_!" Vasquez barks once he sees Faraday, the latter of the two walking while taking his time killing the enemy.

"Light 'em up and lock these sons of bitches in here!"

" _¡Andele_!" Vasquez keeps encouraging Faraday forward.

But just as Faraday was finally making it towards the church, McCann spots him from the perch on his horse and does a quick shot at him. All Faraday remembers was the pain shooting from the right side of his torso before he falls to his knees, grunting as his hand reaches for his wound.

" _Güero_ , man!" Vasquez feels his blood start to boil and before he could stop himself, he's stomping out of the church while Faraday limps inside. In an all-out rage, Vasquez is firing shot after shot at McCann. The man falls from his horse and Vasquez starts to pursue him, screaming curses in Spanish while hitting the guy square in the chest over a dozen times, _"¡A chingar a tu madre, cabron!"_

Each time, McCann lurches back, almost like he was too in shock to fall down and die. But finally, Vasquez shoots him one last time and the bastard falls right into a coffin.

"Are you okay, _güero_?" Vasquez shouts over his shoulder back into the church, where Faraday was panting in pain while reloading his gun with bloody fingers.

"So far, so good." Was all he responded with.

"Can't get out!"

"It's a dead end!"

"We're trapped!"

"Go the other way!"

The Blackstone agents realize that the townsfolk have puts fences and wagons all over the place, trapping them all right in front of the church where the people of Rose Creek could fire at them without mercy.

"I'm going!" Faraday shouts, drawing Billy's attention him.

"Go." Billy grunts while he follows Faraday out, but stays in the doorway and covers him while Faraday runs out into the open. Billy was kind enough to shoot the men aiming at Faraday, but he left one or two open so Faraday didn't feel so left out in killing these bastards.

"Keep shooting! They're trapped!" Billy growls as he, Vasquez, and Faraday shoot out all the men in front of the church.

Meanwhile, Red Harvest realizes that he's out of arrows and with a shout, he grabs a gun from his belt and starts shooting bullets instead.

"Keep shooting!" Emma shouts when she realizes that the man beside her had stopped. She turns him around, only to find a bullet through the eye had ended his life, to her horror.

Still, in the hotel, Sam goes to each and every one of the windows and shoots through them, always hitting someone and never missing.

"Keep shooting, _güerito_!" Vasquez shouts to Faraday, and side by side, they do just that as Faraday takes a rifle off a dead man.

Sam runs out the hotel only to find he's surrounded by two men. He shoots one and hits the other in the head with the butt of his gun. He stands back and shoots the man again through the chest before he kneels down to use a couple of wheel barrels as cover. Chisolm realizes he's in a tight situation when he noticed that the church has pushed all of the Blackstone agents back and further into the town, practically surrounding the bounty hunter.

"Sam!"

He turns his head to see Matilda make a break from where she hid and ran across the street to him, finding herself out in the open in doing so. Her hair was sticking to her skin from all the sweat and she appeared exhausted, mostly from her task at taking care of the horses. She stumbles a few times as Chisolm tries to cover her as best as he could, shooting the ones he thought was shooting at his friend, but Tilda was being pursued by men on horses, practically nipping at her heels and threatening to run her over. Sam watches in horror, afraid he would be too late. But as he watches a man fall from the roof, he realizes that help had finally arrived.

With a war cry that could shake mountains, a rider on horseback leaps over the fences and lands into the trap, but as Chisolm looks closer, he realizes that it's Goodnight Robicheaux himself! The Angel of Death has arrived!

"Come on!" Goody was practically cheering himself on as he mowed down the Blackstone men one by one, including the ones who almost killed Tilda. Out of harm's way, she goes to kneel beside Sam to watch in awe as Goodnight shoots and kills every man he targets without blinking. No hesitation was seen on his face this time, and now he looked like a purebred killer.

When Goodnight spots Sam and Tilda, he stops his horse in front of them, his shouts out of fear and warning, "They got the Devil's Breath! They got a goddamn Gatling gun!"

Sam and Matilda exchange glances of horror as they stand up, quickly trying to warn everyone to take cover before it was too late.

"Goody!" Matilda shouts at her friend on the horse, "Race to the church! Go warn the others!"

He doesn't have to be told twice and he takes off, his heart pounding out of his chest.

Back up over the hills, Bogue lights a cigarette. Not far away, the one in charge of the Gatling gun wearing an eye patch turns to the others, looking down to Rose Creek with the gun by his side, "Let 'em have it."

All Hell breaks loose once again as shot after shot from the Gatling gun takes off. People start falling down left from right and Horne takes the injured Teddy under his wing, "Let's run!"

"Get the fuck... Gavin, damn it!" A man shouts as the proprietor of the hotel is shot and killed in an instant.

"Take cover!" Horne shouts as he watches men fall without any explanation behind him, pushing both himself and Teddy to the ground.

"Go on, Miss Emma." One of the last men from up on the saloon's balcony grabs Emma and starts pulling her towards the door, while he stood up like the sitting duck he was.

Back at the church, the others have yet to notice anything wrong before suddenly Goodnight himself rides towards them on his horse, "They have a Gatling gun! A Gatling gun! Get inside! Inside, inside! Billy!" He shouts the name lastly, seeing his partner in crime while the mysterious man of the Orient wears one of the rarest and widest smiles you will ever see on the man.

"Hey, Goody!" He exclaims while catching a rifle Goodnight tossed at him.

"Hurry, _cabron_!" Vas tells Faraday as they all quickly get inside the church.

Sam and Matilda were the only ones left out in the streets and try to hide as best as they could, Sam ducking behind a wall and grabbing Tilda by the waist to follow him. She nearly makes it as bullets dig into the wall of the building where she once stood, and the two cower in the corner together while trying to find another way to safety. Across the street, however, they notice the General Store and something caught in Tilda's throat when the bullets of the Gatling gun dig into the walls and causing children from inside to scream. One of the bullets breaks into an oil lamp and causes it to fall and start a fire inside the building.

"Go! Gun! Gatling gun!"

"Move, get out of the way, go on!"

"Get down, get down!"

Each of the men inside the church hustle into getting down, Vasquez not making it in time and screams out in pain when one stray bullet digs into his arm. Goodnight bunkers down just in time, nice and snug next to Billy as they hug the floor as tight as they could in order to evade bullets. One happens to bounce off the church bell up top, causing Josiah's left ear to start ringing in pain.

Sam can now hear the screams of the children from inside the burning building and he takes off across the street, "Come on!" With Matilda now at his heels.

"Go on, Miss Emma, go!" The man at the saloon yells while opening the doors that follow inside. He is just able to get her to safety before his own back is riddled with bullets.

"Crawford! Down!" Sam yells while leaping behind the bar as the Gatling gun goes off.

Matilda scurries to hide behind the counter for cover as her surroundings explode into splinters, but when she dives to avoid getting shot, she got a little too close to the corner of the countertop bar and could only remember seeing darkness before ever feeling pain.


	8. Chapter 8

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" A little girl cries when the sounds of bullets stop, the rest of the women and children crying beside her as they smell smoke from above their cellar doors.

Back at the church, there's a moment of silence, before Goodnight is on his feet to make sure no one else decided to get up, "They're reloading! Stay down! Stay down!"

"Get down!" Billy ordered.

Faraday considers to stay low before he hears high-pitched screaming from a nearby building and he starts to get up. "The children," he states before he goes running out, not ever looking back. Billy stands just outside the doorway again to provide him cover, shooting at any stray Blackstone agents with his rifle, Faraday also shooting them as he runs off to help Sam with the children.

"Get down against the wall, come on!" Vasquez orders from inside the church.

"Hey, Goody!" Billy tosses up a rifle when he turned away from the door to notice Goodnight had climbed up onto the steeple.

Goodnight catches the gun while heading up the stairs that lead up to the church bell, "Let's go, Billy!"

Faraday makes it to the General Store and practically rams into the door in order to get inside, a panicked look on his face as he looks around. He sees the fire slowly starting to spread from the corner of the room, and then he sees the cellar door, yet to be touched by the flames. But the sight that really made his blood run cold was Sam kneeling down and trying to shake Matilda awake, who was knocked out cold with blood running down over the left side of her face.

"Tilly!" Faraday kneels down beside her, cupping her face while glaring up at Chisolm, "What happened?!"

"The Gatling gun went off and she fell and hit her head while we were taking cover."

"Tilda!" Faraday snapped, staring down at the unconscious form, glaring with intense concern, "Come on, wake up! Open those eyes for me, darling. Come on, _Matilda_!"

There was a soft noise and Miss Persuasion's eyes fluttered open, squinting in the smoke and flames while her ears ring from the sounds of war outside. She groans in pain, but tried to force a smile, "Is that my _name_ I hear, Mister Faraday? I must be dead."

The Irishman broke into a laugh all the while Sam was desperate to get to the cellar underneath the floorboards.

"We gotta get these kids outta here." He rushes to the cellar door, opening it up to instruct the women and children to come up, "All right, everybody, come on."

"Everyone, up the stairs."

"Quick, quick."

"Quick, quick, quick."

"Be careful."

Faraday lifts Matilda up onto her feet again and forces her to lean against the railing of the porch to catch her breath. He brings out his gun to provide cover as the kids start pouring out of the building, all heading in the same direction.

Scanning over the dead bodies, such as Gavin, Horne takes the injured Teddy to a safe place, "Can't walk. They got my leg, sir."

"Schoolteacher, what are you doing up here?" Goodnight says as he spots Josiah taking cover within the steeple, Billy coming up the ladder not far behind him.

Josiah only shakes his head, "I want to stay."

"Come on, now, get outta here!"

"Wrap that leg!" Horne orders Teddy Q once he gets him inside a building, standing in the doorway while tossing him some empty guns, "Stop the bleeding! Find some ammo. You did goo-!" He was cut off by an arrow digging into the back of his leg, causing Horne to scream, "Shit!"

Horne struggles to turn around with his now injured leg, but when he did so, he noticed Mister Denali, one of Bogue's men, slowly emerge from out of nowhere, more arrows in his mouth and his bow loaded. Horne is growling while Teddy hides behind some furniture, the older man unhinging a knife while barreling towards Denali.

The Indian fires again, hitting the bear of a man square in the chest. It drives Horne back a little, but it doesn't stop him, pointing the knife threatening at Denali while spewing Bible verses again, "We are giants put on this earth to rid it of evil and to keep all that is good!"

He is cut off with another arrow digging into his body, causing Jack to fall to his knees in pain. He goes to stand again, but this is the one time he truly screams in pain as Denali fires and digs an arrow into the palm of Horne's hand.

It takes several moments to register, but Jack slowly looks up into the sky, taking in his final moments to look up at whatever beauty was left of the blue blanket of warmth, now being covered up by smoke. Jack looks back down at the ground and with one last breath, he was gone, much to Teddy's grief.

"Keep going, keep going!" Sam instructs the women and children as they make it towards the edge of town and into the fields.

"Anthony!" The young boy stops when hearing his name, his face lightens up at the sight of his father running towards him.

" Pa!" He goes to hug his father, but Chisolm decides that they don't have time for that and pushes them on.

"Quickly!"

"Go, go, go!"

"Come on. Stay together."

"Let's go! Go, go, go."

"Keep going! To the ridge line!" He instructs everyone, but mostly to Hank Stoner, who will guard the women and children as they make it to safety.

"Come on."

"Just keep going."

As Faraday and Matilda provide cover while Sam guides the women and children out of Rose Creek, the young persuasive woman looks down to see that Faraday was clutching a bullet wound to his gut in one hand while the other just barely held onto his pistol.

"You're hurt," she states rather softly.

He looks at her for a moment, puzzled, before looking down at where her eyes were at. He scoffs, trying to play off the pain he felt, "Ah, it's nothing. You should see the other guy. Vas showed no mercy."

Speaking of Vasquez, the church wasn't doing any better than the rest of them were. Vas could see the Blackstone agents starting to recover from the Gatling gun's effects and turns away from the window, favoring his left arm, "They're coming!"

"We're running outta ammo, boys!" Phillips yells among the gunfire and shouts. Vasquez couldn't seem to care as he shoots twice out of the window.

"Shit, Billy." Goodnight curses as he sits beside his partner, well guarded up on top of the steeple.

"I knew you'd come back." Was all Billy said gladly while reloading his weapon.

Goodnight couldn't help it as he smiled since it was always a sight to see Billy happy, "You did, did you? How'd you know that?"

Billy only answered by taking out an old flask that Goodnight has kept in his possession for as long as he could remember, "You forgot this."

Goodnight whooped in delight, laughing alongside his beloved friend.

"All right," Goodnight cocks his rifle, "Let's do it."

"Yeah!" Billy yelled and the two of them spring up to their feet and start shooting left from right, sniping any Blackstone they could find.

Faraday and Matilda run ahead of Sam as they try to find cover, while more Blackstone agents are finally coming out of their hiding spots and aiming at anyone out in the open. The three friends find themselves hiding behind some caskets, taking cover behind what appears to be an early grave for them.

The Gatling gun suddenly goes off again and this time, the tired men barely react as they all go down, one by one, Billy being the one getting shot in the arm this time. Tilda screams when the bullets dig into the wood just beside her head and so she and Faraday race to take cover right beside Sam, as it appeared to be safer.

"Ammo, ammo!" Vasquez ordered when he heard gunshots outside, meaning that the Blackstone agents have surrounded the church.

"This is all we've got." A man muttered as he only provided Vasquez with a few bullets.

"This reminds me of what my daddy used to say." Goodnight grunts as he laid out on the sandbags littering the steeple floor while reloading his weapon again.

"What's that, Goody?" Billy asked, his voice low in exhaustion, and when Goodnight didn't say anything, he responded with a louder tone, "What?"

"Well, my daddy used to say a lot of things, you know." Both Goodnight and Billy break out in laughter, even though it was the most stupid joke on the planet. They didn't care, they knew it was something they wouldn't laugh about in a normal situation.

"You all right?" Sam asked when seeing how bent out of shape both Faraday and Matilda looked. 

"Hell yeah," Faraday smiles through his pain, still clutching the bleeding wound in his torso. "So far, so good. I might need a new vest. Damn, we gotta do something about that gun."

Billy has stopped laughing since it hurt too much, looking over and seeing Goodnight nod at him was all he needed as the two of them reload their weapons and with a last-ditch effort, scream out while standing up to fire back down at the stubborn bastards. Vasquez is doing the same, only quieter as his arm was killing him.

"Hey," Sam mutters, making Faraday look back at him, "You know what? We're even. For the horse. You don't owe me anything."

"Well, you owe me." Faraday finally has that mischievous gleam in his eye again, a small smile crossing his lips.

Sam looks back at the younger man with an odd look, wondering what he could have possibly done to owe Faraday, "What's that?"

"Cover. Come on!"

"Wait, what?" Tilda is appalled by this and was too stunned to say anything as suddenly Faraday is up and running, Sam not too far behind. Matilda curses and runs after them, now realizing what Faraday was doing and all other thoughts running through her head go null and void. Sam provides Faraday the cover he needs as they run around the back of the church, now being followed by Blackstone agents. Matilda takes this opportunity to scan their situation and makes a rash decision to pull Faraday aside and push him to hide for cover behind the church.

"No!" Matilda yelled while grabbing his arms and pulling him back to hide behind the boards, "Stay down!"

Faraday smirked, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're worried."

Matilda was panting, out of breath and out of ammo, the blood from her head wound was now drying over her skin. She wore a panicked look in her eye, staring out at the field and back at Faraday, "It's a suicide mission. You'll be killed!"

She could have sworn his face softened a little, almost with a look like he already knew his fate. Looking down at his bullet wound, Matilda already knew she was looking at a dead man, but sending him out there she knew was _immediate_ death.

Faraday tried his best to grin at the situation, "How's a kiss for goodbye? Or if you don't like goodbyes, it can be good luck?"

She scoffed playfully, ignoring the tear that slipped down her face, biting her lip, "Come back alive and we'll talk about it."

He smiled triumphantly, knowing that he had finally won her over, even if it would be the day he dies. "Deal."

He takes a moment to wipe the tear from her face and races out of their hiding spot, shooting out in the open. Matilda touched her face where the ghost of Faraday's touch lay and bit back a sob.

Slowly, the rest of Faraday's friends realizes what he's doing and Vasquez quickly gets to work at helping him from inside the church. He helps Sam cover Faraday by firing at Bogue's remaining men, eventually shooting one man off his horse and at the same time providing Faraday a ride.

" _Ándele, güero_!" Faraday heard Vasquez off in the distance while smoothly getting onto the horse his best friend had just provided him. He takes hold of the reins and races off towards the Gatling gun, now a few Blackstone agents right on his tail.

"They're going to kill him..." Tilda is seen muttering and finds herself taking steps to a nearby horse without an owner. She goes to get on, to try and help, but a pair of arms stops her and holds her back, thrusting her towards the hotel where there was no doubt a small place for the wounded men to lie around wounded in there while the brave women who stayed behind were attending to them. "They're going to kill him!!"

"Matilda, stop." She is shocked to notice that it was Vasquez holding her back, surprising her by using her first name.

"Over here! This side, Goody." Billy tells his partner as he directs him to where Faraday had taken off across the field, and Goodnight couldn't help but cheer the brave man on.

"Ride, Faraday, ride!"

"What do we have here?" The one-eyed Blackstone man asked as he watched Faraday slowly riding towards his men, his death, and the Gatling gun, while still being chased by half a dozen men on horses. One by one, Goodnight and Billy pick them off, sniping them from their perch on the steeple.

"Get the two in the back," Goodnight orders Billy while he himself tries to get the other men closer to Faraday.

The one-eyed Blackstone loads the Gatling gun for the third time, looking towards the church as he barks orders, "Hit the steeple."

The Gatling gun goes off again, firing at the church, while Goodnight is determined to kill off the last man about to shoot Faraday in the back. With a victorious yell, Goodnight shoots the Blackstone, "I got him!"

But it was a victory celebrated too soon as both Goodnight and Billy are one by one shot down and littered in dozens of bullets, the Gatling gun finally hitting its mark, and perhaps it was a bit too much, as Goodnight is found falling off the steeple and tumbling towards his death. Billy flops down on the floor of the steeple, staring down at Goodnight's flask, which was now damaged as he breathed out his final words, "Oh, Goody."

"No!" Tilda screams as she had just witnessed her friends being shot down, Vasquez having to hold onto her even tighter and she struggles to get to them, "No! Billy! Goody!"

"Don't!" Vasquez yells, forcing her back, "There was nothing you could do."

Matilda didn't realize tears were running down her face and in the distance she remembers that Faraday was still out there when she heard him yelling at his horse to go faster. Her eyes widen as she stares across the field to see the Gatling gun in the distance... with Faraday not too far away from it now. She didn't dare blink, afraid she would miss something as she held her breath. 

The line of men surrounding the Gatling gun arm themselves and start firing at Faraday as he drew closer, Bogue watching in astonishment not too far off. Faraday manages to shoot a couple of men on his way to the gun, ducking behind the horse's neck for what little cover he could muster. But before he knew it, he feels a shot to his right lung and grunts, his grip barely around the reins as he felt weak. His aim now poor, he tries firing his weapon again, only managing to hit one other man this time. He's so close now he could taste it. So close, just a few more yards...

Another shot to the chest and Faraday felt suddenly light, floating in the air as he no longer has any muscle control. He lets go of the reins, as his body takes a dive off of the horse, his vision blurring from how faint he now felt.

But as he stared up at the blue sky, he realized that he ain't dead yet, and tries to force out a gaspy breath while trying to get his muscles to remember how to move. He feels himself slowly getting up, on his knees and then on his feet. He pants drastically, coughing out a bit of blood and stumbles forward, limping towards the Gatling gun and never stopping. He was determined to see this through... at any cost.

The horses at the Gatling gun reel back in fear when he gets back up, almost as if they could smell the death reeking off of him, the men having to force the stallions to calm down. As Faraday starts limping his way toward the gun, the evil men grew amused and mockingly cheered him on.

"Come on, boy!"

One man decides that he has had enough of this, and aimed his rifle, firing and hitting Faraday's leg, making the injured gambler buckle down and fall to his knees, groaning in pain.

"Why don't you stay down, boy?"

Faraday winced, his fresh bullet wounds felt as though they were on fire. Trying to take long, calming breaths, Faraday closed his eyes, trying to picture something else to ignore the pain.

All he saw behind his eyelids was Matilda. She was laughing at him for making a poor attempt to flirt, but he couldn't hear her as if his ears were set to mute. Her hair pushes over to one side of her shoulder when she threw her head back to laugh, eyes sparkling with amusement and her teeth perfect and mesmerizing. When she recovered from her fit, her head tilts in Faraday's direction, smiling only at him.

This was enough for him to feel relaxed, letting out a rushed sigh. He finds himself digging out a smoke, barely placing it in between his lips as he felt too weak to do much else.

The man who shot his leg earlier aims to do it again but is stopped by the one-eyed Blackstone agent. The man hops down from the wagon, marching forward towards the kneeling Faraday. He takes out his matches when he realized Faraday was failing to light his smoke himself, and so the one-eyed man kneels down to his height, taking his only lit match and pressing it up against Faraday's smoke. Once it was blazing, Faraday takes in deep inhales, exhaling out the smoke that had entered and exited his lungs. Barely looking up from the brim of his hat, Faraday sees the one-eyed man glaring down at him with this snake-like smirk, and he pulls out his gun.

But it appeared pointless, as Faraday falls forward from his kneeling position, lying down to die. The men huff and chuckle in amusement, while the one-eyed Blackstone turns back to the others.

"Let's go, boys."

"Yeah," they agree as they start to move around with their gear to get ready to leave. They didn't even bother to notice Faraday getting back up again, now holding a sparkling lit stick of what would behold their fates.

One man's face falls, "Dynamite!"

The others could barely turn back around in time to see the stick of dynamite themselves before Faraday smirks.

"I've always been lucky with one-eyed jacks."

He barely even tosses the dynamite and the men scream for their lives, starting to run in all directions, but it was too late. Faraday felt himself start to laugh when suddenly

**_BOOM!_ **

Matilda felt the air leave her lungs before she could gasp from the shock, feeling as though the wave of the explosion reached her. Her heart skips several beats while her skin grew cold and her eyes dried out, never once blinking at the sight of the explosion. She pushes herself out of Vasquez's grip, the outlaw not having the heart to stop her as he watches the smoke rise with heavy eyes. Matilda runs towards the field but didn't get very far as her legs felt weak. She stopped beside the church, her heart now pounding in her ears as she heard nothing else in the thick air of the late afternoon.

Finally, Tilda found her voice, and she screamed until her throat hurt, "FARADAAAAAY!!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't hate me please don't hate me please don't hate me


	9. Chapter 9

Sam Chisolm finds himself walking away from the church, walking away from his past now that it was lifted off his shoulders thanks to Miss Emma. She did it. She had killed Bogue. She had gotten to kill him in the church, around the same place where he had previously murdered her husband. The irony was enough to wipe the smug smile off the evil man's face. Chisolm walks with a rifle in his hand, the one Emma used to take her demon's life while noticing a bunch of men and women have come out of hiding from the crossfire. The aftermath is dead quiet, the thick air was full of small voices buzzing, fires still burning, and bodies slowly rotting. Sam spots Teddy limping towards him, along with Turner, Phillips, and the preacher himself, still wearing a sling over his arm.

He hears the sounds of hooves, and he looks up. Sam feels his heart drop to his stomach when he sees Vasquez, Red Harvest, and Matilda sitting up on top of their rightful horses, but Red was also leading another horse beside him... carrying the dead body of Jack Horne. Matilda was hanging onto the reins of Sam's black stallion, while Vasquez also led a horse... a brown mare still wearing a saddle but empty of an owner. Sam wore a heavy expression, one he tries to withhold while gazing at Horne's body, then to Red Harvest, still stoic as ever, but doesn't want to look at Sam, his eyebrows furrow as his sweat melts off his face paint. He sees Teddy appear out of the corner of his eye, but that's not what he was curious about, as he stared dead ahead of him.

"Faraday?" Sam asked, his tongue nearly stuck to the roof of his mouth as if he was afraid to say it.

Vasquez just shakes his head with a broken look, no longer feeling the pain in his bleeding arm. Sam bows his head, scared to spare a glance up at Tilda. But he does so anyway, knowing he had to see for himself that she was alright.

She looked anything but that. Her skin was pale, as she appeared cold. Matilda's eyes were rimmed with a pink tone of color, her lips nearly blended into her skin, the blood still on the side of her face stuck out among the sweat and tear tracks running down her cheeks.

She didn't look Sam in the eye. She turned away the moment he looked at her. Chisolm looks over to the horse Vasquez was walking around, noticing it to be Jack, Faraday's- _his_ horse. And he had to admit, this is the quietest that damn beast has ever been as if he knows something is wrong.

Sam decides that he has to look away now, or he'll regret it. He looks to a spot on the side of the church, seeing the outlined body of Goodnight Robicheaux. Barely having to shift his eyes, Sam looks above the steeple and sees a glimpse of Billy Rocks' hiding in the shadows. Emma walks out of the church, locking eyes with Chisolm before he turns back around. He wore a look of acceptance on his face, tossing the rifle and Teddy catches it without a fuss. He nods to the bounty hunter, but Chisolm's attention is distracted elsewhere when he hears a man embracing the preacher.

"Thank you, Father." The man and the preacher break from their hug, and the preacher locks his gaze with Sam, the old man's tired eyes looked solemn, mourning the deaths of his fellow townsfolk.

"Miss." Teddy had moved from his spot and limped towards the persuasive woman, grabbing her attention.

Matilda looked down to find Emma's gentleman caller holding up an item to her, wearing a sympathetic look on his face as he squints his eyes up at her through the sun. She took the object with her shaking fingers and realized, to her devastation, it was one of Faraday's playing cards. It was the one Teddy took out of Faraday's hand when he was teaching the kid how to shoot their first-night camping together and was probably way too drunk at the time to ask for it back. The Jack of Hearts. Tilda sucks in a sharp breath like she had forgotten how to breathe and looked up to hear both Chisolm's and the preacher's voice.

"Preacher."

"We'll take good care of your men, Mister Chisolm. Proper."

Matilda sets her jaw and looked back down at the card. She took a deep breath and brought the card to her lips, her eyes screw shut as if it hurt to let go of the only thing she had left of that annoying, foolish, gambling Irishman.

She breaks from the card now printed with her kiss goodbye to Faraday and hands it back down to Teddy, "Please bury that with him," she chokes.

"You made it through!"

Chisolm decides that it's time to move as the town starts to become lively again, people running around and trying to find one another through the fires and bodies. He walks toward his horse and leaps up, grabbing the reins while looking around at the remainder of his assembled team. "Let's go," he whispers, barely audible as he pushes his horse forward to walk to the edge of town.

"God bless you, Mister Chisolm." The preacher thanks as they trot past him.

"Take care of Jack, Teddy," Vasquez tells the younger man when he goes to take Jack's reins from the Mexican. And, with a heavy heart, Vas lets go of the reins.

Tilda doesn't bother to lift her head, afraid of what disaster she might see if she took a good look around the town, seeing bodies and fires that could be too much for her to bear right now. Her peripheral vision sees Red Harvest's horse, and that's the only thing she watches as it guides her and her horse Nessie out of town.

"Miss Emma." Sam nods as they pass by their employer.

"Thank you." The young woman says as grateful as possible, a small smile laced on her face.

"Thank you so much, sir." Clara, the schoolteacher walks by the horses, followed by Leni, her baby, and the rest of the women and children.

"Thank you, Mister Chisolm."

"Thank you!"

"Thank you, Mister Chisolm."

"Godspeed, men." Hank Stoner nods in thanks, holding some children's hands as he leads them back into town, back to their home.

"Mom, is it over?" A little boy asks while holding his mother's hand.

"Mommy?" Another girl called out when she spots a woman with her mother's hair, "Mom!"

The woman starts running to her child, her husband not far behind her, "Sweetheart!"

The children run around, trying to find their parents, as their parents run forward, crying out of relief and rejoice. People have started to laugh, feeling the nerves bubble up into happiness as the war was finally over. In victory, the people of Rose Creek yell out and cheer, crying out in their most happy moment in Rose Creek history, but young Anthony looks on, the schoolteacher's boy trying to spot his heroes within the crowd.

But Sam Chisolm and his own people don't stick around long enough to see the celebration, and soon they had their horses running off across the fields, away from a town they will never forget. Leaving behind a messy past, but starting a brighter future, they took off into the setting sun, the wind roaring in their ears and the fresh prairie air reviving them from the smoke they've inhaled and the wounds that have yet to heal. Red Harvest starts to ride ahead of the rest of them, being the youngest as he screams to the sky, yelling in victory and whooping in Comanche.

_'Whatever they were in life, here, at the end, each man stood with courage and honor._

The people of Rose Creek were able to set up proper burials for the four out of the eight warriors that died for their town. As requested, Billy Rocks and Goodnight Robicheaux were laid to rest side by side, Goody's flask wrapped around the cross marking his place buried within the earth.

_They fought for the ones who couldn't fight for themselves, and they died for them, too._

Joshua Faraday was buried on the other side of Goodnight, a single card, the Jack of Hearts, stuck into the wood that presented his cross. On the other side of him, was Jack Horne's gravesite, who was marked with a pinwheel that no doubt a child placed there.

_All to win something that didn't belong to them. It was... magnificent.'_

The strong winds start to make the Jack of Hearts shake from its permanent spot wedged in Faraday's grave, threatening it to let go. Then, whether by the spirit of a cowboy or the will of a God, the card takes off into the air, flying towards a new adventure.

**The End?**


	10. Chapter 10

_"Miss Emma!"_

_Missus Cullen looks up from collecting stray guns from the battlefield of Rose Creek. There were a ton of townsfolk walking around the fields and bending down to either attend a wounded soldier or help with dragging a dead body back into the town to be buried, funnels of smoke still hovering the grounds soaked in blood, both from men and horses. Emma had gagged from the stench alone, the sights of how some people died would haunt her for years, but she needed to get this town cleaned up in order to have a brighter future._

_She could hear Teddy Q calling her name in the distance again, and he sounded in distress. Terrified that her friend was in trouble, she picked up her skirts and ran in the direction she heard the wind carry his voice, her heart pounding in her ears as the smoky wind stung her eyes._

_"Miss Emma! Hurry!"_

_She was out of breath by the time she reaches Teddy, who was still bleeding by the shoulder and favoring one of his legs. He was staring down at something lying down in the long grass, just by the side of the river. He turned to her with wide eyes as he pointed a finger in the direction he was looking._

_Emma gave him a puzzled look before walking towards him and turning her head to see why he was stunned like a deer caught grazing out in the open. At first, she didn't see anything, since the grass was nearly as tall as her shoulders. Where her eyes betrayed her, her ears didn't as she heard something that didn't sound like rustling grass or running water. It was a small sound, like an injured animal. Emma walks forward, still trying to catch her breath while she pushes the grass aside, trying to take a closer look. Her fingers grow cold at the sight, and she nearly screams as she leaps forward to check for a pulse._

_"Oh my God! He's alive!" She announces with joy._

_"Just like the others..." Teddy adds, his grin widening, "It's a miracle!"_

_"Well, don't just stand there! Go get help!" She orders the young man; although the smile can't be fought. As Teddy leaves, she turns back with both of her hands on either side of the injured man's face, avoiding most of his body since he was barely held together by the seams of his clothes._

_"Faraday? Mister Faraday, can you hear me?" She asked loudly, knowing that any explosion the injured Irishman had gone through and stand so close would be enough to destroy his hearing._

_Faraday's eyes were practically sewn shut, unwilling to move. There were bloody cuts over the bridge of his nose and lips with one of his eyes swollen, his hat long gone and his light red hair disheveled. Both of his ears were leaking with blood, his face almost unrecognizable due to the bruising and dirt also covering his physical features, and don't even get Emma started with the condition of the rest of his body. She could hear people shouting in the distance as they try to get to her and the injured party. Apparently, Teddy had told everyone on his way to finding a doctor and half of the town was running over to see their fallen hero alive and breathing._

_She turns back to stare down at the unconscious gambler, trying to coach him into waking up, "Do ya hear that Faraday? You're gonna be alright. You're gonna live."_

_The only response she got was his heartbeat._

~~~~~~~~~

It was dark out now, Rose Creek far behind and out of sight to Vasquez. He and his compadres were too far away now to change their minds and go back. The four remaining heroes had contemplated that maybe they should have stayed there for a few days to rest up and heal, but Sam didn't want to be in that town any longer than he needed to be, and the only injures the four had come from Vas and Matilda, but the wounds were minor. Nothing a few stitches and alcohol couldn't fix.

...But on the other hand, Tilda appeared to only want the alcohol. Anything to drown whatever she was feeling. She had been quiet the entire ride out from Rose Creek, never having said a word since she asked Teddy to do her a favor. Vasquez didn't want to ask her what it was, knowing that she wouldn't have told him either way.

Once Sam finally suggested they make camp, the others didn't protest. They had been quiet for most of the ride, Red Harvest not included, but Chisolm knew that it was to be expected. They were mourning over the loss of their friends, their deaths still fresh in their minds. And Sam couldn't blame them. He couldn't shake these feelings either since it all literally happened that morning.

When they finally got a fire started, the four sit around tending to each other's wounds. Red Harvest was in charge of mending Matilda's head injury, having her sit down in the dirt while he stood in front of her. He had a special thread that he promises comes from nature, therefore it would be good for her. She didn't question it and allowed him to stitch up her head injury. Vasquez was amazed that she didn't even wince at the pain. She barely even blinked! But then again, Tilda was too numb to feel anything as of right now.

When Red finished the stitching, he decided to cut the string and pats around his pockets, frowning when he came up empty, "I lost my knife." He simply said.

"You must have misplaced it during the battle," Sam comforts.

"I need it."

"Just make a new one. Surely there are stones around here you can brandish a knife from," Vasquez suggests, only to earn a glare from the red skin.

Matilda huffed, digging through her gun belt and taking out a beautifully polished, fully steel knife. "Here," she croaks, being that it was the first time she spoke that evening, "Use this."

Red takes it without question and uses Tilda's knife to cut the loose stitching from her head. He hands the knife back and makes a comment about seeing a berry bush awhile back, and said he wouldn't be gone for long. After he took off, Tilda goes to check Vasquez's bullet wound, sitting beside him by the fire. Sam sat across from them, staring at the two westerns from over the fire.

Matilda had Vasquez take his vest and undershirt off, so she wouldn't have to rip the fabric any more than it already was because it was his only shirt. She takes his arm in her hands and inspects it, her face grimacing when she noticed something.

"The bullet is still in there. I'll have to dig it out."

Vasquez cursed something in Spanish, all the while Tilda digs her knife back out and sets it on the flames of the fire. She turns back to the Mexican, "You're going to hate me after this."

"Is that a challenge, _Morena_?" Vas asked with a frown, although Sam could hear the sarcasm clear as day.

"A promise," she snipped back, cleaning the blood off of his skin a little so she could see better, the moonlight and firelight not being enough. Once the knife was heated up, Tilda picked it up and stared Vas directly in the eye, "Take your belt off."

He glared at her, completely stunned like she had just offended him or something. Sam was just as curious as he tilts his head at the woman in question, as she rolls her eyes and growls lowly.

"For fuck's sake, Vasquez! The belt's for you to bite down on so you're not screaming bloody murder like a child being struck!"

The sudden outburst stills both Vasquez and Chisolm, and even the crickets stopped chirping their midnight song. Seeing the frustration on her face that dared him to question her, Vas decides not to utter another word to Matilda as he takes his gun belt off. He removes his gun holsters so that it was just the belt, then he wrapped it tightly and bit down on the leather, nose flaring to prepare himself for the pain.

Matilda takes the knife and doesn't even warn the outlaw before she digs the red-hot knife into his open flesh wound. The veins in his neck pop out and tighten as he screams into the belt, the rough fabric of leather muffling the sounds to only sound like loud groans.

If Tilda took her time with retrieving the bullet, Sam didn't say anything. But once she got it out, Vasquez's whole body loosens back up as he takes deep breaths, his face going completely pale behind his beard while Tilda tosses the bullet into the dirt. She sticks the knife into the ground to cool off and only then did Chisolm examine its hilt and comes to the realization of where he's seen that weapon before.

"That's Billy's knife." He noted.

The campsite goes completely quiet, Vas furrowing his eyebrows at Sam before he craned his neck to look over at the knife and see for himself. Matilda doesn't look Sam in the eye, but at Vasquez's arm as she washed up the rest of the blood and bandaged it. "One of them at least. He gave it to me," she whispered, "After he taught me a few things with it."

Very few words were exchanged after that, as Red Harvest returned with their small dinner. Being reminded of the day's events, only a bit of small talk was the only thing the four friends were able to utter for the rest of the evening. Finally, they all turned in for the night.

But Vasquez couldn't sleep. He could hear men screaming in his head, along with explosions and horses in distress. He didn't think he would ever sleep again.

And apparently, he wasn't the only one. He hears some muffled movement from behind him, and Vas peeks from underneath his hat to recognize Tilda's hair as she walks off into the night. Worried that she might be leaving, Vasquez sits up and goes to follow her.

"Don't."

Vasquez nearly jumps out of his skin, turning around to see Sam sit up, pushing his wool blanket off of him. He must have seen their lady friend take off and shakes his head to keep Vas from doing so, too.

"She won't be gone for long. Just needs some time to herself."

Matilda wasn't one who appreciated night-time. She hated it, but that's all she would admit. She would never go as far to say she was scared of the dark. Tilda wondered when exactly she started having that fear and realized it was from when she was a child. Her father would get drunk mostly at night, and most of the scars she has now come from those nights. She didn't have to worry about the dark after her father died, but then she married her husband, and she grew terrified again. But then Chisolm killed him, and so she didn't have to be afraid of the dark anymore.

But now Faraday's dead...

 _Dead_. The word keeps repeating in her head, among some others. She hasn't talked for most of the night, and mainly that was because there was so much going on inside her head right now, that she couldn't really speak. She kept hearing voices, and _not_ the crazy kind.

_"Since I might die tomorrow...is it safe to tell you that you are the most beautiful woman I've ever met?"_

_"Well, I'll be! Miss Persuasion herself! Quite the honor, miss."_

_"This is the one time where I couldn't follow him."_

_"Anyone ever call you Tilda or Tilly?"_

_"Just don't get in my way."_

_"Once. They never lived long enough to say it a second time."_

_"It was never about the cards."_

_"Ride, Faraday, ride!"_

_"Knives. There's nothing to it."_

_"How's a kiss for goodbye? Or if you don't like goodbyes, it can be good luck?"_

_"Why does Horne fancy you over me?"_

_"Come back alive and we'll talk about it."_

_"Deal."_

_"Some people have died for much less."_

_"Because I'm more self-righteous than you."_

_"So far, so good."_

_"Amen to that, Miss Crawford."_

_"Six pounds of pressure. That's all that's required to kill a man. And they say the nightmares never go away."_

_"I've always wanted to blow something up."_

_"So melt the elements, with fervent heat."_

_"Those nightmares, they keep you up often, Mr. Faraday?"_

_"Well, I shouldn't have to ask for more than that."_

_"And I consider her to be the love of my life. And she is a no-bullshitter, she's a straight shooter."_

_"Much obliged, Miss Persuasion."_

_"Come on, wake up! Open those eyes for me, darling. Come on, Matilda!"_

_"You kill me."_

_"FARADAAAAAY!!"_

Matilda screams; screams as loud as she could until her throat hurt, before drawing her gun and shooting a nearby tree several times until the clip emptied, the sounds of gunfire set off a pack of coyotes in the distance. If her fellow travelers were concerned about her screams and gunshots, they didn't come looking for her. They probably knew it was her just letting off some steam.

The tears finally return to comfort her in a warm, wet embrace. Hearing any and every word Faraday, Goody, Billy, and Jack have ever said to her running through her mind. She drives more pain from her beloved friends' voices, knowing that she will never hear them again. Matilda feels her knees give in and she falls to the ground, her fingers reaching up and clutching the dirt like a lifeline. She had no idea she was capable of losing so much in just one day, a day that hasn't even ended yet. Part of her was praying that this was all just a dream, and she'll wake up in her room back at the hotel in Rose Creek. Tilda could imagine walking down the stairs to find Faraday tricking Goodnight into handing over some money after a failed attempt at winning a game of cards. She could imagine Jack Horne booming with strong laughter after way too much to drink, and with Billy by his side with a small smile. Matilda would give anything to have that over this; over the thought of being without Goodnight's kindness, Horne's wisdom, Billy's encouragement, or without Faraday's... everything. It hurt too much.

~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Red Harvest finds himself to not be the early bird for once. Matilda had already gotten the worm, digging at the remains of their smoking fire; now ashes. She looks up, seeing the young man's eyes that spoke of his suspicion of her being up so early in the day, the sun barely lighting up the sky with the stars still shining above. She looks away again moving to stand up and brush herself off.

"I never went to sleep," she answered without Red asking, and he lets it go.

Once Sam and Vasquez were up and ready, the group takes off on their horses once again, not wanting to waste the morning sitting about. Chisolm offered that they go to Amador City because it was only a three days ride and he figured he could swing back there and collect his money from the local sheriff.

"I earned the reward money for catching an outlaw," he explains, refusing to look at Vasquez as he says so, "Figured we could use the extra money."

"Why didn't you take the money Rose Creek offered us, _jefe_?" Vas asked.

Sam doesn't answer at first, only staring at the horizon line in front of them as his horse slowed down to match the others' speed, "They needed everything they had in order to rebuild."

Matilda found herself wearing a scowl at that statement. So money can rebuild whatever destruction Chisolm and the others left in their wake back in Rose Creek, but it can't rebuild the broken walls of her heart that was so easily torn down not even a week ago? She could hardly find any fairness in that. Faraday and the others _died_ so that Rose Creek could have its freedom, and it would only make sense to at least get paid for their troubles since obviously a bunch of townsfolk couldn't bring Faraday back.

~~~~~~~~~

About three days later, as promised, Chisolm and his compatriots arrived in Amador City, and boy was that intense. At first, all they ever got from men, women, even children as they rode into town was glares. But slowly, Chisolm could tell that the people were starting to recognize him and loosen up a little, except maybe those who should reason to hide from men like him.

He peeks over to see Tilda riding alongside him, and then looked back around, spotting the saloon just a few buildings down. With a haunted expression, he turns back to the woman beside him, "This is where I first crossed paths with Faraday."

He noted how incredibly stiff and cold looking Matilda's fingers got while tightening around the reins of her horse. She stared dead ahead, glaring at those who were glaring back at her. She inwardly dared any of them to make the comment about the strange group consisting of a white woman wearing pants, a black man with a look of authority, a Mexican outlaw, and a clear as day Indian.

"I don't care," was all she muttered.

 _'You would if he were here,'_ Sam wanted to snap back but knew that it was too early to say something as horrible as that. Tilda had every right to act this way. She had just lost people she cared about, hell they all did, and it was going to take some time before they could stop thinking about being angry and fully become a team again.

They ride to the sheriff's office and dismount their steeds just outside the door, a man with a bushy white mustache and a badge walking out, looking a little more relaxed than his townspeople at the sight of Sam.

"Mister Chisolm, right?"

"Yes sir," Sam responded with the appropriate nod, "We met almost two weeks ago? I've come to collect my half of Powder Dan's reward money."

"Of course. Right this way, please."

"And," Sam adds out of nowhere, stepping up to be the same height as the Sheriff, "I am also here to sign some papers and clear the name of the wanted outlaw, Vasquez."

There's total silence among Sam's misfits, while Tilda is pretty sure she saw Vasquez dropped his cigar as his jaw falls open out of the corner of her eye. The Sheriff looks just as taken aback, showing off the mouth that was once hidden behind his mustache as he spoke.

"But, Mister Chisolm... you can't be serious-!"

"Dead serious." Sam placed his hands on his hips, "I can write three fulls parchments as to why this man is not to be executed."

"He killed a ranger!"

"That _monstruo_ was a murderer and deserved everything that came to him!" Vasquez snarled, his entire body language turning vivid at the very mentioned of the dead man that's given him so much trouble even after pushing daisies.

"Vasquez," Sam looked over his shoulder to throw the Vaquero a warning glare, "I'll handle this. Please stay outside while I reason with the sheriff."

After Chisolm and the Sheriff went inside, Matilda huffs and starts walking away, Vasquez immediately noticing and going to follow her, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find a drink in this dump," Tilda turned around and walked backward while pointing an accusing finger at Vasquez, "And don't even bother stopping me."

She walks off before another word was said, and so Vas was left with Red to stand outside the sheriff's office. The outlaw and the warrior exchange looks, verbally agreeing that the two of them maybe wandering off in a town like this wouldn't be a safe bet, and so they left Tilda be.

Matilda finds the saloon right away and walks in, the piano and mutters slowing down to a stop as she does so. All heads slowly turn to her, and she decides to ignore them as she walks towards the bar, where a young lady was cleaning a glass by spitting into it.

"Just a double for now, please," Tilda mumbles while sliding a coin in the bartender's direction.

"You got it." The woman replied while taking the coin.

"On second thought, make it a triple with the strongest drink you have," Matilda slides over an extra coin, deciding last second that she planned on getting drunk. She deserved that much.

"Sorry, hun. I'm afraid I don't know what exactly is behind this bar. I just started working here after the last bartender got shot."

"No, shit," Tilda leans her elbows on the counter, smirking slightly, "Powder Dan by any chance? My buddy was the one who killed him."

"You friends with that warrant officer?" The bartender mused with a sly grin, pouring a glass for her new costumer, "Bless him, then. Dan kept trying to court me even though he had an old girl at home."

"And you didn't let him pursue you?"

"Hell, no. A woman has standards."

Matilda found herself laughing loudly, now that the tension in the room has lifted and the music in the background started playing, "Amen to that, miss. I'm Matilda Crawford."

"Lizzie Michaels. What brings you to Amador City?"

"My warrant officer friend is collecting his bounty from killing Powder Dan," Tilda answers while taking the first sip of her drink.

"I see. Reckon that'll help you in your travels."

"If it buys me a few more drinks for the next couple weeks, sure, that'll help."

Lizzie finds herself laughing, "You're a strange lady, you are."

"Yeah?"

"I've never seen a woman wear pants and drink whiskey like that."

"I hang around with too many men." Tilda grinned back lazily, adding an extra wink for being playful.

The female bartender laughs again, taking another glass and cleaning it out, "Well, I will leave it to you then, Miss Crawford."

"Much obliged." Tilda waves her off and goes back to her own drink, sipping gradually, but the drink empties quickly. She pours the second glass herself and downs that within seconds, before pouring another one once again.

She sits like this for some time, barely keeping track of how long she has been there, but she noticed the sun was starting to set so she wobbled off her stool to leave, figuring that the others might start looking for her since it was getting late. She stops in her tracks however when she sees a group of men playing cards, one man was missing an eye, and she heard another cowboy call him Lucas. The card game continues, and no one seems to question the empty chair among them, and for some reason, it leaves an ache in the pit of Tilda's stomach. When she turns to leave again, she's met with a man about her height right in her face.

"You Miss Crawford?"

She studies the man while trying not to gag from his whiskey-scented breath and rotting teeth. He had a wild beard and dirt and sweat mixed together on his skin. He looked a little crazy around the eyes and his left ear was half gone, blood still clotted and dried around it as it was just starting to heal.

She scowls, "Who wants to know?"

"My name is Two-Gun Kid. I heard that you've been traveling with that warrant officer who killed Powder Dan. Now it just so happens, I had a... friend who was also traveling with Mister Chisolm. Maybe you know him. He goes by the name Faraday?"

Matilda's whole body stiffens, her jaw visibly clenches and that's all Two-Gun Kid needs to see before he secretly draws his gun, pressing it against Tilda's stomach so no one else in the saloon could see the threat and panic. "Would you mind telling me where he is?"

She only stares back at him with cold, hard eyes, not making a sound or forming a reaction from the gun pressed into her shirt. When it was clear that he was stupid enough to not be scared of her glare, she barely opens her mouth full of gritted teeth.

"He's dead."

Two-Gun snorts, "Nice try, missy. But it's impossible to kill Faraday. I know. I tried."

"Well, then you must be dumber than you look." Matilda snaps back as quick as lightning.

"Faraday was just as quick as assuming we were stupid, too."

"We?" Tilda echoes while trying not to think about both hers and Faraday's similarities, "You got a buddy coming around to stab me in the back? Kind of cowardly, don't you think?"

"Where's Faraday?" He asks again, now with an added growl and a further press of his gun.

But Tilda barely flinched, even though her heart was beating too fast to count in her chest. She doesn't look anywhere else but into her captor's cold eyes, "Go to Hell."

"You're just protecting him," Two-Gun decides with a snarl, "He's probably in town here somewhere. You're going to lead me to him. Come on."

He takes her arm, and he barely tugs before Tilda is walking out the door, right in front of him. She complies with his wishes since she was too drunk to save herself, Two-Gun Kid's weapon now trained in the small of her back, hidden from any prying eyes. She was used to being handled like this: a rough hand in the crease of her arm, a gun pressed against her, no matter where on her body. She's dealt with men who treated women like property, and she felt like she was strong enough to let it happen, instead of being scared. She knew when to stand her ground, or when to obey. This is one of those times to obey.

She leads him to the local hotel, where no doubt her friends are making merry inside. She cranes her neck to look over her shoulder, "What happened between you and Faraday?"

"He cheated in a card game," Two-Gun seethed, "Took fifty dollars from right underneath my nose. Then he killed my brother!"

Tilda bites the inside of her cheek, refraining from saying anything as to not jump to conclusions, while her captor was starting to get antsy, "Now, where is-?!"

"Inside," she interrupts, trying not to sound like she was shaking. Two-Gun pushes her up the stairs and through the front door of the hotel. Once inside, Matilda could recognize the makeshift, crazy laugh to belong to Vasquez, the noise music to her ears in her current situation.

Seeing the back of Sam's head, however, did little to comfort Matilda since now he was unarmed and open to any attack. He was watching Vasquez make a fool of himself now that he was a free man, judging by how open and ridiculously happy he looked. Tilda inched forward, her eyes scanning every inch of the four walls surrounding her, trying to come up with a solution before Two-Gun realized the gears turning in her head. She noticed how Red Harvest was nowhere to be found and takes that into consideration. Tilda doesn't notify any of the people drinking and laughing on her way to her friends, the gun still trained to her back, but the metal now warm against her clothing. They reach the bounty hunter, but his back was still turned. Two-Gun shoves the gun further into her back to get her moving, and she breaks the ice by clearing her throat, a cold sweat forming on her brow when hearing the fear in her own voice.

"Sam."

Chisolm spun around and the amused smile he earned from Vasquez fell at the sight of Matilda with a man too close to her back to be anything else but to use her as a barrier. Scanning the situation, the bounty hunter could predict that there might be a weapon involved, otherwise, Tilda would have killed the son of a bitch by now. 

Vasquez stops laughing beside Sam and replaces his laugh with a low growl, Sam seeing the former outlaw reach for his own guns out of the corner of his eye. Sam holds a hand out to make Vasquez pause with his actions, trying to stop him from doing something stupid and becoming an outlaw again, while Chisolm himself glares right into Two-Gun's soul, just over Matilda's shoulder.

"Now let's all calm down now," he starts off, speaking rather loudly so that his voice spreads throughout the hotel, "Who might you be, young man?"

"Two-Gun Kid. I believe that you have an old friend of mine among your ranks and I would like for him to come out of hiding. Joshua Faraday?"

Sam's eyes squint and for a moment, his gaze falls to Matilda before looking back at her captor, "He's dead."

"You're lying! I know he was traveling with you!" The man snarled.

"Faraday had been killed not only four days ago," Vas grits through his teeth, "Now let our friend go."

"How many more are you?" Two-Gun demands, his gun raised like his voice and now others in the hotel start to panic at the sight of it, "I bet they're hiding him from me!"

"It's just the three of us," Sam lied through his teeth, "No need to get riled up. Now let the girl go, son."

"No! I KNOW HE'S HERE!"

"What do you want, a goddamn death certificate?!" Matilda suddenly screams, deciding to struggle against her captor, only to earn the gun drawn to her neck and his arm tight across her arms and chest to keep her from getting away. For such a short guy, he had quite the painful grip. Two-Gun seems to take their words into consideration, staring off into space before spitting on the floor and glaring up at Chisolm.

"Maybe he is dead, but he still owes me money. Pushing daises or nah, I demand payment for the death of my brother and you're going to help me, Mister Chisolm."

Sam felt his lips perch in irritation, making sure his hands were free and visible to the man with the gun, "Anything you want, you got it."

"Sam, don't you dare-!" Tilda tries to warn him before Two-Gun tightens his grip on her to shut her up, and she does so with a small yelp.

"Name your price," Sam offers.

"I know you earned a reward from killing Powder Dan. I want that award for myself."

"What?" Matilda's eyes widen, her gaze pleading into Sam's soul, "Sam, don't! That's our money, not his!"

"I won't hesitate to kill her, Warrant officer!" Two-Gun snapped, slowly dragging Matilda away from her friends as they make for the door, gun barrel pressed at her temple. "I can outlive an encounter from Faraday! I can outlive an encounter from you-!"

His words are cut off by the sudden gasp he extracts, dropping his gun and loosening his grip on Matilda. She stumbles forward and everyone stares at Two-Gun with wide eyes. He stumbles, reaching up to faintly feel the arrow stuck through his skull before he drops dead on the wooden floor. Eyes glance up to see Red Harvest perched on the staircase leading up to the rooms, bow still raised in the now dead cowboy's direction. Upon confirmation that the threat was taken care of, Vasquez steps forward to reach for Matilda, to which she responds by snatching her arm away.

"Don't touch me!" She screams, trying to cover up the crack in her voice once her companions realized there were tear tracks streaming down her face. She lowers her gaze to try to hide the pain and anger hidden in her eyes and stomps towards the stairs, heading up to her room to be alone. 

When Vas looks to Sam, the warrant officer wears a heavy look on his face before nodding slowly, "I think it would be best if we left her alone for the night. Having this son of a bitch force her at gunpoint while asking for Faraday didn't make our situation any easier. Let's bring this body to the sheriff and we'll see how Miss Crawford feels in the morning."

Vasquez slowly nods in response, despite the hesitation in his eyes. Without questioning it, he and Red Harvest go to help Sam lift Two-Gun's body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet you guys thought I was going to leave Faraday dead, didn't you? Don't worry, I may be known for writing sad stories but I know when I've crossed the line lol


	11. Chapter 11

_He honestly didn't know how he was even alive. It was like God wanted him to live despite how many arrows he took to important arteries. One minute, he remembered closing his eyes for the last time, sitting up in the middle of the dirt road, then the next he's awake in the med bay just inside the hotel of Rose Creek._

_For a couple of days, Jack Horne could barely move. He felt like a pin cushion. The first motion he could ever do was sit up in bed, and when he did he couldn't believe his eyes._

_Across from him were Goodnight and Billy, both unconscious and riddled with bullets and bloodied bandages from head to toe. The Angel of Death himself looked worse. His right leg and arm were splintered and had several more layers of bandages then his partner did, even around his neck. When Horne could move his head around a little better, he noticed the wounded man lying on a cot beside him._

_Faraday appeared almost unrecognizable. His hat was gone and he had been stripped of all of his gear. He was only left in his undershirt and pants to make him more comfortable. Even after being cleaned up of all the dirt, grime, and blood, he was still completely covered by the vilest cuts and bruises. Similar to Goodnight, but worse, most of Faraday's limbs were splintered and bandaged as a sign of broken bones. The young gambler's face was swollen around one of his eyes, with deep cuts around his jaw, lips, and the bridge of his nose. Even if Faraday opened his eyes, despite the odds of him being unconscious, he couldn't because while his left eye was swollen, the other had a bandage wrapped around not only his eye but his entire head. Horne could tell that despite someone's best intentions, they still couldn't clean out the dried blood around and in Faraday's ear._

_"What the hell happened to them, son?" Horne finally asked Teddy when the young man came in to check up on him._

_"Well..." Teddy trailed off while looking around at Horne's other three friends, "Both Billy and Goodnight were shot down by the Gatling gun from the steeple, Goodnight even took a tumble off the roof. And Faraday-!"_

_"Was an idiot and took down the Gatling gun with a single stick of dynamite... while he was in front of it," Emma interrupted as she walked in, sounding annoyed, "If that man can survive several bullets littered across his body AND an explosion, I honestly don't know_ _**what** _ _could kill him."_

_"So he will make a full recovery then?" Horne asked in his raspy voice._

_"To the best of his ability at least. His wounds will probably take longer to heal than the rest of you. Leni believes that he might walk away with some scars, a limp, and possible loss of hearing in one ear. It could have been a lot worse."_

_"To him, that IS a lot worse," Teddy scoffed, "I can picture him yapping about how we ruined his good looks now."_

_"A price we'll just have to pay, Teddy," Horne smiled softly, "He's alive, ain't he? We all are."_

_That's when Horne suddenly realized that not all of his friends are accounted for. Looking around, he noticed that Sam, Matilda, Vasquez, and Red Harvest were missing. He looked back up at Emma and Teddy, concern in his old eyes._

_"Where are the others?"_

~~~~~~~~~

Matilda awoke to the light shining through the stained curtains covering the window to her hotel room. The first thing she noticed was a searing headache and the fact that she was still in all of her clothes and gear, the barrel of her pistol digging uncomfortably into her waist from the position she slept in. Moaning in pain, Tilda slowly sits up in bed, wincing from how sore and bruised she felt before she stood up. Her head swims for a moment before her vision clears back up and she walks over to the dirty, broken mirror in the corner of the room. Fixing herself up to appear presentable, she walks out of her room and down the stairs to the saloon. She faintly hears a piano playing and once she reaches the bottom of the stairs, she observes that Two-Gun Kid's body is gone and that only a few customers were lying about the area at this time in the morning. She notices the piano by the bar, a couple of empty tables surrounding it. An old man with a long, white beard and skinny arms was playing the old keys, mumbling a small tune that sounded sad and bare.

_"Some... people say a man is made out of mud_   
_A poor man's made out of muscle and blood_   
_Muscle and blood and skin and bones_   
_A mind that's weak and a back that's strong_   
_You load sixteen tons, what do you get_   
_Another day older and deeper in debt_   
_Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go_   
_I owe my soul to the company store_   
_I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine_   
_I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine_   
_I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal_   
_And the straw boss said "Well, bless my soul"_   
_You load sixteen tons, what do you get_   
_Another day older and deeper in debt_   
_Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go_   
_I owe my soul to the company store_   
_If... you see me comin', better step aside_   
_A lot of men didn't, and a lot of men died_   
_With one fist of iron, and the other of steel_   
_If the right one don't get you then the left one will_   
_You load sixteen tons, what do you get_   
_Another day older and deeper in debt_   
_Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go_   
_I owe my soul to the company store..."_

The piano keys continue to dance for a few verses longer before the old man cuts the song off. Looking up, he noticed that Matilda has sat down on a table near him while she gingerly sipped on some whiskey. Her eyes wandered with a sad look on her face, her mind elsewhere as the glass of alcohol just floated in the air as her hand barely held onto it. The old man tilts his head at her before he throws his leg up over the piano bench to face her properly.

"Do you sing, miss?"

Matilda's eyes blink and her head turns towards the old man's direction, eyebrows shoot up in surprise and she quickly covers it up with a polite smile, "Sorry?"

"Do you know how to sing?" The old man patiently asks again, responding with a kind smile of his own.

Tilda rolls her lips, her eyes darting back to her drink before taking a sip, "Enough to get by I guess."

"Would you like to sing something for our esteemed guests this morning?" He asks her, "I'm sure the customers are getting quite tired of my failing voice."

"I actually thought you're singing was lovely," Tilda comments to avoid asking his question, earning a raspy chuckle from the old man.

"Come on. From the looks of it, darling, you look like you have something on your mind that you want to get off your chest," he swings his leg back around before she could protest and he cracks his knuckles before hovering over the keys, "How's this... you can sing any song you know, and I'll eventually figure out the tune and play along with ya."

She hesitates, looking around to see if she could possibly persuade anyone to take her place, but no one else seemed to be paying attention and she sighs. Setting her drink down, she stands up to sit on top of the piano, not wanting to disappoint the old man. While thinking through the very little songs she knows by heart, she clears her throat and tries to sing. Her voice wasn't anything special, but it was a lovely tune that didn't go too high, but almost a soft, low melody that accidentally cracked once in a while.

_"And I don't know where to find you, I need you, I want to_   
_And I don't know how I lost you, but I know_   
_Somehow I lost myself saving you when I needed help._   
_Somehow I lost myself falling in love with you_   
_But all I know is you're my Romeo, my knight in shining armor_   
_All I want to is stay with you forever and ever_   
_Forever and ever_   
_Forever and ever_   
_And I don't know why I left you, I need you_   
_And I was so worried that I scared you away_   
_And I don't know why you love me, baby_   
_And thank you for knowing that I'm not crazy_   
_Somehow I lost myself saving you when I needed help_   
_Somehow I lost myself falling in love with you_   
_But all I know is you're my Romeo, my knight in shining armor_   
_All I want to is stay with you forever and ever_   
_But all I know is you're my Romeo, my knight in shining armor_   
_All I want to is stay with you forever and ever..."_

By the end of the song, Tilda was so lost into the words that she didn't realize that the old man had learned the song rather quickly enough to play along on the piano, and when the song ended, she looked up to find she had tears in her eyes, and it was enough to make her crumble just a little inside, her heart feeling like it was being suffocated.

~~~~~~~~~

When Sam went around finding the rest of his team, waking them up for the trip ahead of them, he noticed that Matilda never answered him when he knocked on her door. When he turned back to her room, he opens the door to find that the room was empty and all of her things were gone.

"Vasquez," Sam called the newly freed outlaw over, and when the younger man came over to peer into the room, he observed the way the Mexican's eyes widen in fear.

Before Sam could stop him, Vasquez makes a break for the stairs just as Red Harvest comes out of his room, "Vas, wait!"

Vasquez turned back for a moment, a little stunned by Chisolm's use of his nickname, and the bounty hunter holds his arms out as a sign of defeat, "She's probably long gone by now. She must have thought that she needed more space, so I believe that it is just best to leave her alone."

And just like that, Vas snaps, a vein popping out from the side of his neck as he shouts, "You've been saying that ever since we left Rose Creek, _cabron_! _'Leave her be, give her time, leave her alone'_! She's not made of glass, Chisolm! You don't have to treat her like she's a _niño_! But what you NEED to do is make sure she doesn't do anything _estúpido_!"

Vasquez doesn't even wait for Sam's response as he goes flying down the stairs and towards the stables as he prays that he could catch up to Matilda. His heart pounding in his ears, Vas was panicking over the fact that he already broke the _one_ thing Faraday made him promise to do before he died...

_He remembered it being the last night before the big battle, and after Vas was already in his room, ready to fall into a restless sleep, he realized that he had left his cigars downstairs, and he could use them to relieve some stress right about now. Huffing in exhaustion, Vas went out of his room and down the stairs to the saloon, noticing a familiar face sitting amongst the stools at the bar._

_Faraday was flicking a card between his fingers in fast, dancing motions, deep in thought with a smug smile across his lips. Vasquez knew that kind of expression, as he used to see it on his papa's face every time he looked at his mother, like a lovestruck puppy. Honestly, it was pathetic to see such a face on Faraday._

_"You ever plan on sleeping tonight,_ **_güero_ ** _?" Vasquez asked with a sarcastic tone, smirking in victory when Faraday nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden loud voice over his shoulder._

_"Jesus, Vas!" Faraday cursed, putting his card away among the rest of his deck, "Don't do that!"_

_"Well, then you should be more alert. Always on your toes. No one can spook you then."_

_"I wasn't spooked! I was just... deep in thought I guess."_

_"Apparently," Vas scoffed while sitting down beside him, cigars were long forgotten as he looked around, "Miss Crawford finally go to bed?"_

_"Yeah, she went upstairs not that long ago," and so the stupid smile was back on the gambler's face, giving Vasquez the sudden realization as to why._

_"_ **_Dios Mio_ ** _, you two are_ **_loco_ ** _," Vas muttered under his breath._

_"It's not a sin to kiss a woman if you feel like the both of you are going to die tomorrow,_ **_hombre_ ** _." Faraday mocked right back, the smile slowly fading into a sour look as he stares off at the wall of whiskey in front of him._

_Vasquez lowers his head, almost feeling guilty for the man next to him before sighing, "At least she didn't punch you in the face..." then he stops and suddenly leans over the counter a little to get a better look at Faraday's facial features, "Did she?"_

_Faraday laughs at this, his sad thoughts washed away as he shook his head, "No. She didn't punch me. Believe it or not, she kissed me first."_

_"Okay, now I know you're just drunk, my friend," Vasquez laughed in return, Faraday quick to defend himself._

_"I'm serious! I think she really does fancy me now. It's... it's just a shame that I probably won't make it out alive tomorrow to ask her about it."_

_Vasquez's eyebrows furrow in concern, "Don't talk like that,_ **_güero_ ** _. Of course, you're gonna make it tomorrow."_

_"I don't know. I do some pretty stupid things..." Faraday trailed off, wearing a sad smirk on his face before letting out a long breath through his nose, "Can you promise me something?"_

_"I could," Vas nods._

_"Promise you'll look after her?"_

_The question stuns Vasquez, and since he saw the sincere look on Faraday's face, a shadow looming over his eyes, he knew that he was being completely serious. Slowly, Vas nods and pats his shoulder._

_"You have my word. But it won't come to that, my friend."_

_"Thanks, uh... How do you say '_ **_friend_ ** _' in Spanish?"_

_Vas found himself smiling, "_ **_Amigo_ ** _."_

_"Right. That."_

~~~~~~~~~

Vasquez will be damned if he went and broke his promise to Faraday. He owed that man his life, if not Matilda's.

When Vasquez burst through the barn doors of the stables, the wind is almost knocked out of him when he immediately recognized Matilda's hair, the said owner of hair was feeding her beast, Nessie, with some sweet, red apples. Hearing the door crack open like a whip, Matilda looked up to see Vasquez standing there with a stunned expression, like a wolverine that got caught stealing shiny objects. The sight makes her roll her eyes.

"Took ya boys long enough. I thought ya'll have gone into hibernation."

She suddenly pulls herself up onto her horse, swinging her leg over Nessie and grabbing the reins just as Red Harvest and Sam entered the stables, "Come on. We got a lot of ground to cover."

The men exchange glances to one another before they slowly followed their female companion's orders. As Vasquez gets up onto his horse, he spares a glance at Matilda. Her expression still remained haunted, but there was a shade of a color now spreading over her cheeks. Eventually, she'll get better as time goes by, but as of right now it's all a part of the healing process. Vas could tell just by looking in her eyes that she had contemplated leaving without them earlier this morning, and she wondered if she made the right decision by staying.

_"Morena."_

Matilda looks up at the name, meeting Vasquez's eyes when she did so. She still hasn't asked what such a word meant to the Mexican, but the mischievous grin he possessed spoke volumes that said he would never tell her anyways. 

"I'm glad you're here."

She smiles for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs:
> 
> Sixteen Tons (Tennesse Ernie Ford)
> 
> Forever and ever (Carter James)


	12. Chapter 12

_The first thing he remembers was waking up to the high-pitched ringing in his right ear, his head automatically throbbing in pain. At first, he didn't dare open his eyes, thinking about what a nightmare it would be if he did. But when the ringing slowly died down to a numbing sound in the back of his head, he tries to open his eyes..._

_Only to find that he can't._

_Dammit! Was he dead? Is he dying? The panic starts to set in and he realizes he could move his fingers. They automatically reach up to his face, palms touching the places his eyes were supposed to be only to find that one was swollen shut and the other was bandaged over his vision and his ear. He couldn't possibly see even if he tried. He tries to call out for help, only to find that his throat was dry and his lips were cracked and sore. The only possible sound he could make was a distressed moan, but all the same, the noise got someone's attention because now he felt a hand on his shoulder, and another was slowly unwrapping his non-swollen eye._

_He blinks rapidly when his sight wasn't at first accustomed to the blinding light of the sun coming through the window above his bed. When he reassures himself that he could see, he analyzes his situation and looks to the person who gifted him with sight. He recognizes the small body and long red hair, but his mind hasn't caught up to him quite yet, so, at first, he couldn't remember who this random woman was._

_His ears begin to pick up other noises instead of ringing, such as voices. He knew he recognized the voices, but he couldn't pinpoint from where yet._

_"Are you certain he's waking up?"_

_"I'm not deaf, Mister Robicheaux! I know he made a sound! And he moved!"_

_"Christ, Emma, no need to shout. Faraday's hearing could be damaged badly."_

_Emma? Emma Cullen? Then that male voice that responded to her had to be Teddy. Did Emma say the name Robicheaux? So Goodnight's here, too? What is happening? What's going on? What happened to the battle? Did they win? What about the Gatling gun? He got it, right?_

_"Faraday?" Emma's voice comes back, hovering somewhere above him, "Faraday, can you hear me? Move the hand I'm holding if you can hear me."_

_It wasn't until she mentioned it did Faraday realize that someone was holding his hand. He barely felt the contact and it took all of his might to barely move a finger. But nonetheless, the young woman felt it._

_"He's responding."_

_"Thank the Good Lord up above," Faraday nearly groaned to the sound of Jack Horne's praise coming from somewhere to the right of him. The Lord had nothing to do with this, goddammit. He's just lucky is all..._

_Very, VERY lucky._

_"Faraday," Teddy's voice drew closer, most likely looming over him opposite of Emma, "Don't try to move too much yet. You're gonna need some time to heal fully and you've probably already exhausted yourself trying to move."_

_The young gentleman caller was right. Faraday already felt tired. But he couldn't afford to go back to sleep. He could argue that he's slept enough, but so far his mouth couldn't move and words couldn't form. He was trying to assess his situation. Obviously, he couldn't move, so he must have been scrambled up bad from that terrible explosion..._

_The sudden thought of the explosion brought Faraday back to reality. He remembered fully now. He remembered riding to his death, riding to the end. He could have sworn he was dead..._

_Maybe he IS dead, and everyone talking around is either dead with him or coaxing him back to the living. He tried opening his good eye again, not remembering when he closed it. The sun shining through the window ignited Emma's flaming head of hair, that she had loosely braided and thrown over one shoulder. If he were dead than he should congratulate her husband for reeling in such a fine catch._

_His mind suddenly froze at that thought, remembering that he hasn't heard the voice of his_ **_own_ ** _catch yet. Panic started to settle in, wondering if this is the land of the living, and that the chosen few who aren't in this room isn't here, then... Staring up at Missus Cullen with a pleading look in his eye, Faraday tried with every muscle in his torn up being to form a word._

_"Til...da..."_

_Emma hears him loud and clear, and Faraday will forever be grateful for that woman. She smiles slightly, using her best bedside manner and quietest inside voice, "Miss Crawford is safe. She's not in town, but she's alive. Barely had a scratch on her when she left."_

_When she... left? What the Hell is going on?! Faraday's small, first movements became frantic as he was fighting to sit up in bed, but he must have been predictable because Emma was quick to force him back down. It didn't take much effort out of her, really, since Faraday was just so weak and, you know, barely survived an explosion._

_"Faraday, settle down now. You're already being a pain in the ass." Missus Cullen firmly lays down the law._

_Well, Faraday is a man who thrives to please, so what he did was just squirm even more, earning a huff of disapproval from the woman above him. He grunts, but still, no words came from his mouth. Emma's trying to settle him down with comforting, encouraging words, but Faraday didn't hear a syllable of it. He just tries to fight from the get-go. As he tries to sit up again, Teddy is there to also keep him down and Faraday couldn't help but feel a wave of betrayal from his younger friend. All Faraday's doing is trying to find his girl and these two Rose Creek nick picks are trying to hold him back? Where the Hell WAS Matilda and why would she just... leave?_

_"Joshua."_

_Faraday hears Goodnight's voice again for the second time since he woke up, and immediately he's calm. If anyone can get him out of a sticky mess, it's his old, Cajun friend. While now barely looking around to be considered sitting up, Faraday looks in the direction he heard the Angel of Death's voice, only to find him in a bed just across the ways from him. The older man was already sitting up in bed, wearing an arm sling with his undergarments on and no hat. He looked worn from battle, but that was never a new look for him. He wore a solemn face, calm eyes locked with Faraday's._

_"Don't you worry, son. Everything is gonna be alright. You've been unconscious for three weeks. You, Billy, Horne, and myself have been injured pretty badly, you most of all."_

_The names of said injured drives Faraday to look at the right of Goodnight, only to find the bed next to him was occupied by Billy, who was passed out and unresponsive. Faraday looked back at Goodnight, the silent question still remains between them and all Goodnight had to do was shake his head._

_"Chisolm and the others all thought we were dead and left right after Rose Creek was taken back. Matilda, Vasquez, Red Harvest, and Sam are long gone by now."_

~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, Vas?"

"Hm?" He barely looked up from lighting his cigar, not worried about waking the others, since Chisolm is too humble to hush them up even if they were keeping him awake and Red Harvest doesn't even sleep near the fire. He prefers to be away from the others, stationing himself further away in the dark.

Across from Vasquez, on the other side of the dimming fire, Matilda found herself standing up and walking over to join him, sitting close in order to share some of his smoke, "What does _Morena_ mean anyway?"

The question stuns the outlaw, to say the least. He wasn't expecting the woman to ask about his little nickname for her. When he first started calling her that, she barely batted an eyelash and only warned him if what he called her turned out to be an insult. Other than that, he had been able to call her anything freely and she wouldn't ever ask about it.

"Why do you ask?" He tried covering up the shock factor with a grin, "You afraid that it might be an insult, _güera_?"

"Like THAT word most undoubtedly was? Yes," Matilda rolled her eyes with a small smile, reaching over to pluck the cigar out of Vas' hand.

"Maybe it only sounds like an insult by the way I use it?" He suggests.

"I will admit, your voice does change whenever you call me that," she says as she sucks in the cigar only to let it go and slowly let out the smoke from her lips, watching it drift up into the night air with a satisfied gleam in her eye, "And as for _güero_... you always sounded playful when calling Faraday that."

" _Sí_. And I was," Vasquez's response was short, being wary of what he says since this was the first time Matilda was actually being open and talking about Faraday with a monotone voice. Come to think about it, as of tonight she hasn't so much as cracked a smile until now, so this was a different attitude compared to the one Vas had become accustomed to these past three weeks, "Some words in my language have several meanings, and it all usually depends on how you say it. If you want, I could teach you."

She nods without hesitation, "It would be nice to understand what you're muttering about from time to time or what you might be saying behind Chisolm's back."

Vas laughs at this, the echo causing a lone coyote to yip some ways away, "If I am willing to teach you that much, that is."

"You might as well since I already know the basics," Matilda grinned, "It's not hard to know simple words like mother, father, friend, hello, goodbye, etc."

"You would be surprised, _Morena_ ," Vas clicked his tongue while shaking his head in amusement, faintly being reminded of a certain gambler who had even asked what the Spanish word for _friend_ was, but it's not like Vas was going to share this much to Matilda.

"If you're going to keep calling me that, Vasquez, you might as well tell me what it means."

"Not on your life."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize that it's short! Just wanted to update a little in order to keep the story going and to have you all get excited for what I have in store for this work!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All characters of La Belle, New Mexico belong to the TV series, Godless

_Emma almost regrets saving Faraday that fateful day on the battlefield, because now that he found his strength to talk again, he won't shut up._

_"Evening, Miss Emma. You know, I never heard any_ **_'thank_ ** **_you's_ ** **_'_ ** _after my suicide errand last month. I did, after all, save the town."_

_In response, Emma growls out, "Not single-handedly, Mister Faraday. You did, however, **help** save the town. So thank you."_

_"Ya hear that, boys?" Faraday grins, looking around at his other bedridden compatriots, "I guess you could label me a hero now."_

_Faraday was still sporting a sling around his arm, but the one around his head is gone, the swelling in his eye had gone down but the bruise still remained. Currently, as predicted, he couldn't hear out of the one ear and a scar was starting to form on his left side jawline, running a white cut through his stubble._

_"I'm not sure you could be titled a hero if you only stayed to get your horse back from Mr._ _Chisolm_ _," Emma sneered sarcastically, earning an amused chuckle from Goodnight. The red-headed woman walks around the room, making her rounds feeding the injured from the battle that doesn't have the strength to feed themselves yet. Goodnight lets her feed him without a complaint, thankful for her time used up on helping him heal, but as for the other man whose arm is currently bandaged up in a sling, well he wasn't so compliant._

_"I'm a grown ass man, Emma. I can feed myself," Faraday mutters distastefully while trying to reach out and grab for the bowl of soup himself, only to have the woman pull it back before he could do so._

_"It's Sheriff Cullen now, Faraday. And you can't even lift a spoon with that arm, let alone the bowl."_

_Faraday glares up at her and tries to reach for the food again. The sheriff or not be damned, he will have that soup all to himself. If he knew that Emma was going to keep him from taking care of his own health, he wouldn't have voted for her in the election. And HIS vote mattered since he helped save the town. And of course, Goodnight, Billy, and Jack Horne were right behind him in voting for her. So she wouldn't have lost by a long shot._

_When Emma barely restrained from hitting Faraday over the head with the spoon, Goodnight huffs with exaggeration, "For all that is good, Faraday, just let the woman feed you. It won't bring your dignity down any more than it already is!"_

_Billy was right there with his partner on the subject, sitting upright in bed beside Goodnight, "Not much else that can save his dignity I'm afraid. But I still have a knife I could throw at him if need be."_

_"Easy, mon cher, let Faraday live another day," Goodnight mumbled._

_"And YOU are not supposed to have any weapons!" Emma proclaimed while slamming the food on the nightstand beside Faraday, stomping over to stand between Goody and Billy's mattresses, "Give them here, Rocks!"_

_Billy frowned at this, knowing he had given himself away and couldn't slither his way around it. Sighing, he reached underneath his bed as best as he could, retrieving his collection of knives that were still attached to his now worn and torn belt, a bullet hole shot clean and through near the belt buckle. As Emma goes to confiscate it, Goodnight noticed that one of those slots was missing a beautiful, shining knife._

_"You're missing a knife, Billy."_

_Billy side-eyes Goodnight before finally letting his weapons go to Emma, "I lent one to Matilda."_

_Goodnight noticed Billy's gaze as a concern and it only brings himself to look at Faraday across from him, who had just been trying to reach over and grab at the food Emma left on his nightstand. Joshua tried to hide it, but Goody could clearly see the muscles underneath the younger man's shirt stiffen at the mention of the name. A frown graced his lips that were darker than before, and Faraday barely succeeded in masking his emotion by instead scowling at Horne beside him, who was snoring loudly into his mattress._

_"Damn bear keeps me up at night."_

_Billy and Goodnight exchange a look, but Emma wasn't afraid to acknowledge the subject at hand, "Faraday, like I said before. Miss Crawford and the others were moving on and had they known you four were alive, I swear to you they would have stayed."_

_"I don't recall saying anything about whether or not I cared if they stayed."_

_"You didn't have to. You're an open book to me," Emma glared right back, unafraid given that Faraday was still bandaged up and weak._

_"Son," Goodnight smiled sadly, "You know as well as any of us that Vasquez and Matilda wouldn't have left you on purpose."_

_"As I've said before, I don't care about what_ _Vas_ _and Tilda do. They're grown-ass adults who can make their own decisions. Who am I to stop them?" Faraday sneered while trying to make himself look bigger and meaner than he actually is, "I would rather have Sheriff Cullen here feed me than talk about this."_

_"Faraday!" Emma snapped, finally, "I'm done listening to your bullshit! Injured or not, be damned! As Mister_ _Chisolm_ _and the others were leaving, Matilda couldn't even look anyone in the eyes when she said goodbye. You didn't see her, Joshua! She almost looked ill to the point where I thought she was going to fall off her horse! I know VERY WELL that Matilda was too bent out of shape to let anyone see her like that! So she left! She wouldn't have stayed behind in Rose Creek even if she wanted to, because it had way too many memories that were just going to make her feel worse!"_

_And with that, Emma stuffed her hand into her dress pocket to retrieve, in Faraday's amazement, the missing card from his deck! He could have sworn he lost it in the battlefield along with his hearing. Emma tosses the card at him with a glare, "Here. Teddy said Matilda wanted you to be buried with it."_

_Emma leaves, muttering about how she would rather have Faraday try to feed himself than deal with him right now. Faraday was able to grab the card with his good arm before it fell to the ground and took a real good look at it, his heart sinking when he noticed something that wasn't there before._

_There was a faint imprint of lipstick on the card, and Faraday had to restrain himself from cursing. It was Matilda's kiss goodbye to him. The one he had asked for before riding to his death._

_"Faraday."_

_He looked up to see that Billy and Goodnight were still there, and why wouldn't they be. They were still bedridden like he was. Horne had finally healed properly and no longer needed to be in the infirmary, but he complained about how his tent had burned in the battle and he also mentioned about keeping his friends' company. So he stayed, but in all honesty, Faraday was sure that Jack was probably too frightened to go camping on his own anymore._

_Goodnight lifted his shoulders up to sigh deeply, "I miss them something awful, too. And I don't want them to spend the rest of their lives thinking we're dead. You don't want that, do you?"_

_To be honest, Faraday couldn't stand the thought of that. He couldn't stand the thought of not being able to save_ _Vas_ _or Red from hanging if the threat ever arrived, all because they didn't know he was alive. He didn't want Sam to blame himself for hiring the four of them and then sending them to their deaths, just because he didn't know they were alive. And most of all, Faraday didn't want Matilda to be alone, or even worse, get married to someone else because she thought he was dead. He wanted her to know. And most importantly, he wanted to be able to see her again. To hold her. To kiss her. He wanted that more than anything._

_He mutters something in agreement, making the old Cajun smile, "Well, then what's say we all get better quicker. Grow stronger. Let Emma take care of us. That way we'll be able to be on that road to find our friends again in no time."_

_Billy scoffed but wore a fond smile on his face. "Right. We only have thirty-seven states to search for them. Walk in the park."_

~~~~~~~~~

"We're not leaving these people."

"They have all the help they'll ever need. We need to head west-!"

"They have GUNS, Sam. Nothing else. No training, no men-!"

"You and I both know that a woman is perfectly capable without a man."

Vas and Red didn't do much but stand there as Sam and Matilda debated on whether or not to leave their recent establishment, La Belle, New Mexico. When passing through the town, they noticed that there weren't any men to be seen besides small boys, then they learned that all of the men and older sons were killed in a mining incident. Matilda believes that she and what was left of Sam's small team of misfits should stay behind to teach the remaining townsfolk how to fight in case there was ever a situation in which they needed to defend themselves. Sam didn't agree, given that the Mayor's widow, who just also happened to be the Sheriff's sister, was a feisty woman and proved to him that she didn't need a skirt, only a gun. He knew that there were other towns out there who needed more help than the women of La Belle. But still, Matilda encouraged,

"Still, it didn't hurt in Rose Creek. Sure, there was eight of us and 200 of Bogue's men, but we had years of experience under our belt and engraved into our guns. These women have just recently learned to fight for themselves. Their sheriff rode out weeks ago and hasn't come back yet, all their men are dead. The only resemblance of a male here is their sons. Children. Are you expecting the children to fight their battles for their mothers? Besides, if the wrong kind of people found out that this town was vulnerable, you and I both know what could happen to a town full of widowed women and fatherless children. The women could be raped and abused and the children used for slave laboring."

Vas could clearly see the look of defeat underneath Sam's hat and the determination in Matilda's eyes. She had been doing a lot better than from when they first left Rose Creek, and since coming to La Belle, she clearly had a soft spot for all the women and children here. She wanted to fiercely protect them so that they never had to endure any more tragedy than they already have.

Chisolm sighed, taking off his hat to grab at his head frustratingly. As much as he wanted to head west, he knew that Matilda was right. And after Rose Creek, he could imagine that his compadres would be more willing to protect people beside him than anyone ever has before, "Alright, Crawford. What do the rest of our company think? They should have a say in this, too."

Turning to Red Harvest and Vasquez, Matilda gives them both questioning glances. Red only nods, while Vas finally spoke up to voice his opinion, _"Mientras tengan whisky, deberíamos estar bien."_

Matilda grins with the following snort, using her new lessons well in order to translate Vas' words. He was proud to see that her Spanish was coming along nicely.

"Great. I'll tell them myself."

~~~~~~~~~

"Back up. You and your traveling companions want to _help_ us?"

The question sounded more like speculation coming out of Mary Agnes McNue's mouth as she sat in front of the table standing between her and Matilda, who stood side by side with Alice Fletcher.

"Yes," Matilda folds her hands in front of her while staring down at the fiery woman, "I couldn't help but notice that there was only a few of you here who know how to fight. Well, it just so happens, my friends and I are considered experts on that."

" _You_ want to help _us_ ," now Mary makes it sound more like an accusation, insulted and sarcastic, " _You_ and your... band of misfits."

"I know I don't look like much, but I'm capable of defending a town or two," Matilda explained, "I don't know if you've ever heard of me or any of my companions, but we are the heroes of Rose Creek."

The room seems to settle into tense silence while Mary and Alice exchange a look before both women stare at Matilda.

"Y-You're from Rose Creek?" Alice asked, bewildered, "That town was saved from 200 Blackstone agents ready to kill every man, woman, and child. They were saved by only eight men."

"Seven men AND a woman," Matilda corrects with a practiced smile.

"If you're that woman from Rose Creek, then that means you're Miss Persuasion!" Alice exclaimed while Matilda only grinned and bowed her head with an introduction.

"We've heard of you," Mary confirms, "But last I heard, you all died protecting that town."

Both of the local women noticed the way Matilda's muscles stiffened underneath her linen shirt and vest, but they don't make a note on it as she catches their attention again, "Most of us died protecting that town. There's only us four left."

"And yet, you want to help our town?" Alice repeated, "Even after losing your men?"

"After Rose Creek, we realized saving towns together actually expands our lifetime more than if any one of us traveled alone," Matilda flipped her hair to avoid any locks from stabbing her in the eye, "Think about it. Could you imagine a redskin, a Mexican, a woman, or even a warrant officer of Mister Chisolm's color being out there in the world, alone? Could you imagine what that world could do to us?"

Mary and Alice, again, exchange glances but express more of a mutual feeling of understanding. They were, after all, the same sex as Matilda. They understood that the world wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for their gender. 

"Now I would feel a lot better leaving this town if you let my men and I help your women and children learn how to at least shoot the broadside of a barn."

"And what do you want in return?" Mary glares up at the strange woman suspiciously, "Gold? Supplies? Women for your men?"

"I understand why you're skeptical," Matilda offers, all the while narrowing her eyes at Mary for even suggesting something as crude as that, "I would be, too, if I was in your position. You're trying to protect a town that can't protect itself. I respect and admire that. But your bravery isn't going to cut it. You need more than that. Believe me, I needed more than that."

Matilda starts walking back towards the door with a straightened composure, "Our offer still stands. That is... until Mister Chisolm decides to move our party west of here."

She then turns and reaches for the door. She was able to open it before Mary speaks up again, "Who hurt you?"

She looks back at the smaller woman, stunned. The expression must be clear as Mary continues, "You mentioned that you yourself needed more than bravery. Past tense. Who hurt you?"

Matilda swallowed thickly, desperate to get out of the room as the temperature suddenly rose and she suddenly couldn't breathe, "My father and my husband."

Mary nods while Alice sadly smiles, "And where are they now?"

Matilda felt her chin rise in the air while holding a stronger composure than before, "Six feet underground."

"Good," Mary states while offering a small, devilish smile.

Matilda's smile was as genuine as the shine coming off Mary's gun sitting beside her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, before anyone goes "Huh? 37 states?" let me clarify: this movie was set in 1879, judging that Goody and Sam were in the Civil War, Sam's family was killed in 1867, and the movie had a caption at the beginning that said 'Rose Creek 1879'. So, I did some research, and back then there were only 37 states in America during the 1870s. Not the 50 states we have now. Boom. Drop the mic.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the town of La Belle preps for war, Chisolm and the others don't realize that there is someone out there looking for them

_"Are you sure he's clear for riding?"_

_Faraday doesn't even consider rolling his eyes at Goodnight as he is far too excited to learn from Emma Cullen that he is finally healed up enough to head out on horseback with the others. Sure, he still has a few bandages here and there along with a bad ear, some nasty scars and a limp, but who is he to complain if he's alive? The only thing he is willing to complain about is the fact that it's been three months since the battle for Rose Creek and Tilda and the others could be anywhere by now. He's been sour towards the others the past couple of weeks all because they all couldn't heal fast enough to get on the road._

_"Fortunately, yes. I don't think any of the doctors or even myself could deal with him any longer," Sheriff Cullen says while rolling her eyes._

_"If you're sure..." Goody eyes her carefully, "I wouldn't be surprised if you were just saying he's okay just to get him out of your hair."_

_Before Goodnight could say another godforsaken word about him, Faraday practically springs out of bed and stretches, cracking his back and stressing out the almost-fully-healed bullet wounds, "Ya heard that, boys? I'm free! Come on! If we hurry, we can get to Amador City in two days instead of three!"_

_"Hold on there just a minute, son," Horne interrupts from a rocking chair he's been sitting in quite a bit since he was cleared from the bed, "We should probably stock up on supplies and come up with a plan before we go."_

_"I have a plan," Faraday frowns, "Chisolm most likely went to Amador City first to collect a bounty he earned when we first met. If we go there first, we can ask around as to where he and the others went afterward."_

_"And we agree with you, Faraday," Goody pitched in, his feet propped up on the arm of Emma's chair, "But we can't just leave and be expected to run on just motivation and determination. We need food and money."_

_"We have money," Billy sides with Faraday while commenting to Goody, "We still have winnings from our last duel in Volcano Springs."_

_Faraday is thankful for Rocks' opinion on the topic and also notes, "I also have winnings from my last charade in Amador City."_

_"You can also take the reward Chisolm refused from us," Emma reasons._

_"No, Miss Emma. You need that money to continue rebuilding. We ain't going to steal from you," Horne softens._

_"You ain't stealing. We were willing to pay you to kill Bogue."_

_"Yes, but in the end, you killed him," Goody smiles proudly at her, "So keep your money. Billy and Faraday have enough for us to get by until we find the rest of our company."_

_"So then it's settled?" Faraday urges, "Can we go now?"_

_Goodnight sighs, "Yes, I suppose we can go."_

_"I'll have your horses ready," Emma stands, "And have the townsfolk fix you up some meals that should last you a few weeks. We have enough blankets to spare for you to take with you on your travels. It's the least we can do since you won't take our money."_

_"Much obliged, Sheriff," Faraday grinned._

~~~~~~~~~

_Before long, four horses were saddled and strapped up with plenty of food and blankets to last them a while. Faraday was beyond excited to see Jack again but was clearly confused by how tamed the stallion behaved._

_"What the Hell did you do to my horse, Teddy?" He glared over at the gentleman caller, who shrugged in response._

_"I fed him? I groomed him? Vasquez told me to take care of him, so I did. He really likes apples."_

_Faraday can't argue with that and jumps onto his horse, swinging his leg over with a little bit of effort as his bad leg aches and caused him to wince in pain._

_"You good?" Billy asked from his horse beside Faraday's and the gambler scoffs._

_"Obviously. Let's get the Hell out of here."_

_Practically the whole town came to see their remaining heroes off, all of them smiling and cheering, happier than they have ever been before. Goody and Horne finally get onto their rides and Emma approaches with a sad smile on her face._

_"I wish I was going with you."_

_"Then why aren't you?" Horne asked._

_"I'm needed here. This is where I belong," her smiled broadened while looking at each of the four last heroes of the town, "Don't be strangers. You're always welcome here at Rose Creek."_

_"Aw, I knew you cared," Faraday winked, "And here I thought you've had enough of me."_

_Emma scoffed but the smile remained, "Go and find your woman, Faraday. Please thank Mr. Chisolm and the others for us once again. And thank you, gentlemen, for everything you've done for us."_

_"And thank you, Miss Emma," Goody tipped his hat down to her, "For bringing all of us together the way you did."_

_Faraday couldn't agree more while the Angel of Death turns to the rest of his companions and nods towards the plains beyond the town and mine, "Let's go, boys."_

_By sundown, the four men had ridden far enough away to the point where they were unable to see the dot that resembled Rose Creek. They finally made camp hours after the sun went down once they convinced Faraday that it was way too dark to see in front of them. Even though they were sleeping under the stars once again, the men found it hard to sleep. Either they were too used to feather beds or their minds were buzzing with anticipation, it was like no time had passed by the time Faraday sat up in his cot and declared they take off again. The others didn't protest as they noticed the dark sky slowly turning purple right before the sun was supposed to rise. Not to mention that the others had barely slept as well._

_And like as Faraday predicted, they arrived in Amador City a day early. The gambler himself barely paid attention to the cold stares he was given as his first instinct was to head to the bar. The four men dismount their horses and Goody even paid extra to make sure the horses were well taken care of and not stolen, per Faraday's request from past experiences here. Billy follows Faraday into the bar and Horne and Goody trailed them not long after._

_Billy's usual paranoid mind was able to locate the first potential threat in the bar, which just so happened to be a few men sitting around a table and playing cards. Immediately, the music died and all eyes from the table turned to watch the man in front of Billy enter with glares that could only be made if they were personal._

_"Faraday."_

_"Hey there, Lucas," Faraday flashed a fox-like grin and a slow wink, the one-eyed man known as Lucas doesn't appear to like that as his fists clench._

_"We heard you were dead."_

_"Yeah, I'm sure I'll be hearing that a lot," Joshua chuckled while turning to Billy, "I was playing a few games with these fine gentlemen the day Sam found me."_

_"Who told you he was dead?" Was the only thing Billy cared to pick up while listening in on the conversation._

_"Why would I tell you anything, Korean dog?" Lucas spat at Billy's feet and even so Rocks didn't flinch._

_Faraday's sudden confident attitude changes demeanor and his eyes turn dark, his frown grim, " **Watch** it, Lucas."_

_"Or what? Last we saw you, Faraday, we said we'd kill you," Lucas slowly stood up, the rest of his men following._

_Billy, again, doesn't flinch even as Goodnight suddenly appeared from over his shoulder and close enough to where usually, Billy would have knocked any stranger to the ground, "Now, son. I'd be careful with such threats. As I'm sure the last time you threatened our friend Faraday, he was most likely alone, was he not?"_

_Jack Horne walks over on the other side of Faraday, making sure to stand taller than usual and Lucas and the other men at the table start to shrink back just as Goody grins, "As you can see, Mister Faraday doesn't travel alone anymore. Now, if I overheard right, my companion here asked you a question."_

_"I can help you with that, gentlemen," a young woman comes over to the group of men, sending a glare towards Lucas before beckoning Faraday and the others towards the bar, "Come on, I can fix you up a drink."_

_The four men looked between one another in confusion before shrugging and walking over to sit at the bar where the woman began to fix them drinks, "Name's Lizzie Michaels. I took over this establishment after your warrant officer friend killed the previous bartender."_

_"How did you know about Sam killing Dan?" Faraday asked with wide eyes._

_"I may not have worked here back then, but I still live in this town and word travels quick," Lizzie smiles at the gambler, "You must be Faraday. Heard you were popular here for some time. I also heard you were dead."_

_"Who told you this, miss?" Goody asked while leaning onto the counter._

_"No one did. I overheard this from a man and a woman talking right here in my bar."_

_The others all exchange a look at Lizzie's explanation before Faraday swallowed and looked back at the bartender, "This woman. Did you catch her name?"  
_

_"I did actually. Matilda Crawford, I think she called herself," Lizzie didn't appear to notice the way Faraday sucked in a sharp breath before continuing, "Sad, pretty thing she was. Strange, I'll admit. She wore pants and drank like there was no tomorrow. She stayed here nearly all day before the sun went down. When she got up to leave, one of the local drunk batards I had to deal with since I first started working here came up to her asking for you."_

_"For me?" Faraday frowned, "Who was he?"_

_"You probably knew him. He went by Two-Gun Kid?"_

_"Shit," Goody and the others turned to Faraday when he growled out more profanities, "Fucking Wild Bill."_

_"What happened after that, miss?" Horne asked._

_"From what I saw, Miss Crawford broke the news to Two-Gun Kid and then they walked out of the bar together. Later on, I heard that he had pulled a gun on her and forced her to lead him to her traveling companions. But it didn't appear as though there was nothing to fret about as we were told that one of her friends killed him. Thank God for that. I hated the man."_

_"He was a prick," Faraday growled under his breath, "He threatened Tilda to get to me. And all I did was kill his brother."_

_"Where is Sam Chisolm and the others now?" Goody asked Lizzie, who shrugged._

_"They only stayed for the night and headed out the day after the incident. Probably didn't want to stick around for very long since this town hates strangers as much as the next. They were heading east if I remember correctly."_

_"What's east of here?" Faraday asked hurriedly, almost as if ready to hop off that stool and head out of town._

_"The rest of the country, of course," Lizzie couldn't help but roll her eyes at that, "This is the furthest west you can possibly get in the United States. Your friends could be anywhere by now."_

_Faraday curses and pushes away from the bar, knocking back his stool and ripping off his hat to run his fingers through his hair in frustration. Billy decides to take the Irishman's drink along with his own since clearly Faraday was not thirsty. Goody flashes him a warning glance before sighing, "Well, thank you for the information, Miss Michaels. We really do appreciate it."_

_He hands her a handful of coins for both their drinks and her help before they all started to get up and walk out. Lizzie watches them put their hats back on and make for the door, biting her lip before blurting out, "Your friends, especially the warrant officer. They go around helping people, yes?"_

_They turn back to her with confused glances, Faraday not so much as he's looking off at the wall with a glare. Goodnight smiles softly at the young woman, "They do, miss. They're war heroes."_

_"I..." Lizzie hesitates before setting her coins down and reaches into her corset to bring out a withered piece of parchment, "A few days ago, I got a letter from my sister. Two years ago, all the men of the town she lived in along with several of the older sons were killed in a mining incident, leaving the women and children vulnerable. The letter she wrote to me talked about four riders coming into town to help assist the women with learning how to defend their homes if need be."_

_"She said there were four riders?" Billy asked._

_"Yes. She didn't give me their names but she did say that one of them was a woman," she hands Billy the letter before eyeing Faraday, "Do you think that could be your girl?"_

_Faraday doesn't answer and instead looks over Billy's shoulder to read the letter himself almost as though he didn't even hear her. Goodnight addresses Lizzie, "Where is this town, miss?"_

_"La Belle, New Mexico. My sister's name is Callie Dunne. Please... if you see her," Lizzie quickly finds a parchment under the bar and quickly scrawls down a note before handing it to Goodnight with the ink still wet and smiles, "Tell her I'll always love her... no matter what."_

_"We will deliver your message, miss," Goodnight smile sweetly while handing her a few more coins and then tucking her letter away in his jacket, "And thank you so much for your help. We are in your debt."_

_Billy hands Lizzie back her letter as the four men shoot back their drinks and take off out of the bar, Faraday pointing at Lucas last second before leaving the building with a warning look, " **Behave**."_

_They don't even bother staying the night. The group left Amador City the moment they were back on their horses, heading east before the sun even hit midday. They were riding far quicker than before knowing that they now had a lead and a destination. Jack nearly stumbled a few times in Faraday's flurry. The group of men rode even later than before, daring the treacherous darkness with their determination and spirit. They light a few torches and trusted the bright moon to lead the way to New Mexico._

_They only stop a few times for the horses to rest, the animals only able to ride a maximum of two days before needing to stop. The men barely rest themselves, as they were desperate to catch up to the rest of their team before they leave La Belle and move on._

_"Do you really think it's them?" Faraday had asked Goodnight on one of the rare nights they stop to make camp._

_"I have no doubt in my mind that Sam and the others would have stopped in any town that needed their help."_

_The next town they cross has a huge plot of land for sale and it drives Goodnight to confusion, "Wasn't this the town Sam picked up Matilda?"_

_It does leave the others baffled and when they rode through town to ask about the previous owner of the land, they were met with a man that had a beard sticking out in all directions._

_"Yes, Matilda Crawford once owned it," he explained, "but she sold it back to me when she rode through town again with a few men not even two weeks after buying it."_

_"Did they head east after leaving town?" Horne asked._

_"I believe so. They didn't even stay the night. Last I heard, they were actually going around to sell all of Miss Persuasion's land, which is a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if that woman has hundreds of dollars in her pocket."_

_The group all exchanged concerned looks before Faraday turns to tip his hat at the smaller man, "Much obliged, Mr. Dickens."_

_"M-My name is Mr. Darwin-!"_

_But none of them heard this correction as they were already riding out of town._

~~~~~~~~~

Sam didn't know how long he had been staring down at this blasted map, but the more he tried making sense of it, the more anxious he got. He didn't want to stay in La Belle for very long, but it turns out the locals needed more help than even Matilda could have anticipated and they ended up staying for two weeks. Once word got out that one of the ladies of the town, Alice Fletcher, was hiding a fugitive by the name Roy Goode, the dangerous man looking for him, Frank Griffin, along with his gang of thirty men were only days away from arriving and he had promised to kill every man, woman, and child who harbors the outlaw he aims to kill. And with the town only consisting of a few men, including the deputy, Whitey Winn, and then, of course, several fearless women and their children, Chisolm and the others saw little to no choice but to stay behind and prep for yet another fight that will end in death.

Sam had noticed that Matilda had barely reacted to the news of trouble coming their way. Once Callie Dunne, the town's schoolteacher, and former whore read in the newspaper about their town and Roy Goode's whereabouts, Miss Persuasion's face had gone completely blank as Mary Agnes McNue predicted a fight was coming their way. At first, the women wanted to take their horses and run, but Ed Logan and the foolish cowards meant to protect the town and the mine took their horses when they thought the women were all as good as dead. Now the only animals in town were Sam's and his companions' horses along with a ranch just outside of town that belonged to Alice, but it appeared as though none of the local women wanted _her_ help.

As Sam tried looking for escape routes and possible neighboring towns the women and children could try walking to, the door to his room opened and when he looked up, he's met with Matilda. She was sweating as she took off her hat to fan herself after a long day's work of teaching the women a few things about all of their dead husband's guns and rifles. After that, she had taken her horse, Nessie out for a run and when she came back, she was bombarded with several children wanting to ride the horse. Apparently, Nessie was the only Appaloosa breed that the town of La Belle has ever seen and was very popular among the locals. Everyone wanted to pet the gorgeous beast. 

Matilda approaches the table and takes one look at the map before asking, "You do realize that you've been wanting to head _east_ , right? When we first arrived here, you said you wanted to head _west_. And west is back to Amador City, back from where we came."

"I know," Sam admits, caught in his own act, but he knew he wouldn't be able to hide it from the team's Navigator for long, "I wanted to circle back there."

"Why?"

"I... I don't know," he admitted almost shamefully, leaning forward against the desk, "I just had a feeling we should go back. I can't explain it."

"Sam..." she sighs, "There's nothing back there for us. We're better off moving forward from here on out."

"Is that advice meant for me or for someone else?" Sam eyes her knowingly.

"Doesn't matter. Advice is advice," she answered quickly without making eye contact and walked over to sit in a nearby chair, "What we _should_ do is stay here, help save these women and their town, then keep heading east."

"We shouldn't have stayed this long," Sam admits almost regretfully.

"How come? They would be dead by the time Frank Griffin gets here if we left a long time ago."

"I know, but if I had let you kill that reporter as you wanted to, the women wouldn't have to worry about Frank Griffin and his men."

She tightens her lips together at the thought of A.T. Grigg, the famous reporter who had somehow snuck into town and started asking questions. He was suspicious in Matilda's eyes, and he was getting close to the women and old men living around here to get some insight into their story. Unfortunately, as all reporters do these days, they twist their words to make the story sound better than it really is and so he wrote in the paper about La Belle being nothing but tents and horse shit, along with the added fact that Roy Goode lived here to let Frank Griffin know. 

"What's done is done, just don't try to stop me from pulling the trigger next time," she stood up and went to leave the room, "Because I'll do it if it means these women don't have to."

"What does that mean?" Sam straightened up to watch her back as she stops at the doors, "You're the one teaching them how to use the guns. You're teaching them how to fight."

"Yes, but they shouldn't have to," Matilda turned back around to glare at him, "They shouldn't have to fight for their lives."

"Nearly every town we find is going to be like Rose Creek. People are going to need us no matter where we go."

The corner of her lips twitches in amusement, "Well, Rose Creek had Emma Cullen fighting for it."

"And this town has Mary Agnes McNue."

Tilda smiles just ever so slightly but it quickly disappears, "She's tough, I'll give her that. But that doesn't mean she needs to be. If her brother wasn't so incompetent of a sheriff, maybe this town wouldn't feel so unsafe or threatened."

"If only this world was that kind, Matilda. But wouldn't they be better off knowing how to fight than not? You've said so yourself."

"Because who was going to teach them otherwise? That boy deputy?" She scoffs.

"Whitey Winn is a perfectly capable young man."

"He's young, overconfident, and not afraid of anything. Those are ingredients that will brew together and create a problem for the rest of the townsfolk here."

"By the time we're finished here, the rest of the townsfolk will be able to take care of themselves and won't entirely need the deputy to protect them."

"Protect them," Tilda repeats, not sounding all that convinced as she rolled her eyes.

"That's right," Sam nods, "They'll be like you. Women who don't need protecting."

The woman stiffens and her glare increases, "I don't want them ending up like me."

"And what's so awful about you?"

"Because I am _broken_ , Sam!" She exclaims with a cracked voice, "There's not much left of me to fix. I have lost family of whom I did or shouldn't have loved. A mother, a bastard father, a bastard husband... any children we might have had, and now I've lost Goody, Horne, Billy, and Faraday. You got your revenge on Bogue but I wasn't able to and now I'm stuck in this middle ground between looking for death and moving on. I am far beyond repair, but they're not," she points out the window to indicate the women of the town, "I'm broken, but they don't have to be."

When she leaves the hotel she heads straight to the stables, kicking the dirt along the way. She doesn't wave or say a word to any of the locals she passes, but they appeared weary of her anyway. When Tilda enters the stables, she first sees one of the few surviving men in La Belle, Hiram. He takes care of the stables and the horses and only nods in her direction before going along to do his duties. Tilda follows the long corridors of horses, eventually hearing some giggling down the way and go figure, she sees Nessie and rolls her eyes.

However, when she gets to her horse, she doesn't see giddy children wanting to ride her. Instead, she sees one of the leading women of the town, Sarah Doyle, laughing at something Vasquez must have said as he stood in between Nessie and his own horse while treating them both to some apples. Matilda finds the corners of her lips quirking up again and clears her throat loudly. Both Vas and Sarah spin their heads around and the soft-spoken woman in her thirties suddenly appears shy and stutters in Matilda's presence, "M-Miss Crawford."

"Miss Doyle," Tilda tips her hat and flashes a smile, one that Vas immediately recognized as mockery, "I wasn't aware that you had an affinity for horses! Would you like me to saddle Nessie up?"

"Oh, no no no, that won't be necessary," the woman nervously laughs, doing a slight curtsy between Matilda and Vas before hurrying off in a huff of light skirts and embarrassed mutters.

Matilda watches the woman leave before turning back to Vas, grinning with her hands on her hips, " _¿No es un poco mayor para ti?_ "

Vas eyes widen for a split second before he abrupts into laughter, "Your Spanish is coming along nicely. Still needs some practice, unfortunately."

"All I need is to figure out what _morena_ means," she agrees.

"I wish you luck with that," Vas' grin is wolf-like as she approached him, standing beside the recently freed outlaw while hoisting her saddle up over Nessie's back, "You heading out for a ride?"

"Heading to Fletcher's farm," she replied, "It's far enough away from Sam at the moment."

Vas chuckles as he helps her get a leg up over her horse, "Just be back before sundown or he'll have my head."

"And you can go and tell Father Chisolm that I'm a grown-ass adult and can do whatever the hell I want," Matilda laughs under her breath with disinterest, "I'll be back soon."

"You better," he eyes her warningly before patting Nessie's flank and she starts to trot out of the stables, Hiram having already left the gate open for her and waited to close it behind her there. Some locals watch Matilda as she leaves town, but she pays no attention as she is determined on her destination. 

She had taken a liking to the Fletcher farm and its family. After Roy Goode did some modifications to the fences, helped dig up the well, and even break the horses, the farm looked absolutely beautiful and the family appeared to have their lives turn around for the better. Matilda had learned after meeting Alice that her husband was shot by locals before the mining incident even occurred. Some of the women in town believed that in an act of vengeance, Alice and her mother-in-law cast a curse on the mine that killed the rest of the working men in La Belle. So after the incident, Alice made a smart move and has kept her distance from the town, that is until the day Sam and the others rode into town, where she was conveniently returning a few books for the schoolteacher. It's just the kind of nonsense Matilda always had a thing for. It's like how Sam has an affinity for bringing strange and broken people together. 

Once she saw the little house and ranch that spread out for miles, Matilda suddenly felt a small wave of peace and the sudden capability to breathe fresh, cool air. As Nessie walked closer to the house, Matilda could make out the silhouette of Alice Fletcher and her rifle, waiting for her visitor to make themself known as she most likely saw Tilda approaching from her window. Behind her, sitting on the porch in her usual rocking chair is Iyovi, Alice's mother-in-law. She and her grandson shared the exact same long, slick, dark hair, eyes, and skin color, given that Alice's last husband and his mother were and still are of Paiute descent. 

"Miss Fletcher," Matilda greets while cautiously getting down from her horse, "Is your son still missing then?"

"Yes," Alice answers hesitantly, "I was just about to head out again to find him."

Alice's thirteen or fifteen-year-old son (Matilda didn't catch an age), Truckee Fletcher, had run off by horse almost right after Roy Goode left in hopes of driving any danger away from La Belle. Alice had mentioned when she rode into town the other day looking for her son that he looked up to Roy in the time that he had been with her family. 

"Frank Griffin will be here in a day or so now," Matilda mentions, "I know it's nothing you want to hear, but your son is far safer out there than he would be here right now. And we could use someone of your skill helping us fight against Frank Griffin and his men."

Alice looked down at the gun in her arms and then back up at Matilda from underneath her hat. Her eyes darting between the other woman and the dirt, Alice looks as though she's pondering the way of life until she looks over her shoulder to eye Iyovi, speaking in her tongue before turning back to Matilda, "Alright, I'll follow you back."

Tilda answers with a tight smile and a nod, helping Alice with getting her own horse ready and waiting for her outside the pen as she saddles up. Before they take off, Iyovi walks up to their steeds and mutters a few words to her daughter-in-law before looking to Tilda, reaching up to hand her a handful of tobacco and a small pistol. The Indian woman says a few words in Paiute that scrunches Matilda's eyebrows together in confusion. Looking over at Alice, the woman smirks slightly while translating,

"She says it's for your Comanche friend."

Tilda's eyes widen in understanding before smiling a little and nodding her head down at Iyovi in thanks. The old woman steps away from the horses and the two younger women ride out towards the town. When they got there, Red Harvest is waiting outside of the hotel and whistles Sam over to get his attention and let him know who came into town. Chisolm looks out the window of the jailhouse just down the road when he heard Red's call and sees the two women on horses. He heads outside and Vasquez returns from the stables, taking both of the reins of Alice and Tilda's horses so they might have a chance to jump down from their saddles. Half of the town comes out to see Alice Fletcher in the flesh yet again, but while most of them looked weary, Mary Agnes McNue smirks slightly at the sight of her. 

Tilda hops down onto the dirt and slaps the gift from Iyovi into Red's hand when he approached her and looks around at the women's and children's faces before her eyes land on a male figure sitting just outside the hotel in a chair. At the sight of the man, Tilda's blood began to boil and Chisolm could see from afar where Tilda has got her sights set on. Sam nearly runs over just in time to grab Matilda's wrist when she goes to grab her gun from her belt.

"Crawford, _easy_ ," he warns.

"Let me kill him," she snarls, her glare not yet wavering at the sight of A.T. Grigg, the cleaned-up reporter still holding onto that damn newspaper that sold each and every one of these people's lives out, "I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch."

"Easy!" He sternly holds her back, "We ain't killing him because when this is all over, Mr. Grigg here is going to write a nice story about us. A truthful and more colorful story so that no one ever tries threatening La Belle again."

And even though it's a good idea, Tilda growls like a wolverine, "You promised you wouldn't try to stop me from pulling the trigger next time."

"I didn't promise a damn thing if you remember," he squints his eyes at her, doting on her as if she were a child, "Now would you rather help these women and children get their lives back, or would you prefer spending this upcoming fight in another one of those cells at the jailhouse?"

" _Morena_ ," Vasquez called out from where he stood between the two horses he had just taken over, " _Deja que el diablo cuide al bastardo_."

Matilda's eyes only dart back in Vas' general direction for a split second before looking between Griggs and Sam, his hand still tightly holding onto her wrist. One last glare towards Chisolm and she relaxes her muscles and steps away, keeping her arms up to where Sam could see them as a way of letting him know she was calm. He slowly nods at her before Griggs runs back into the hotel with his tail between his possibly wet legs. Sam takes note that the initial danger is over and looks over Tilda's should to spot Alice, "Bring company, did you?"

"Back up," Tilda corrected, looking over her shoulder at Alice and winking, "And a friend."

Alice appears to loosen up after that and ignores all the stares while stepping up onto the hotel porch to stand next to Mary Agnes, who grins at her and then turns back to watch Sam and Tilda interact. Chisolm looks to his female companion, still cautious as he nods, "You good?"

"Define good," Tilda straightened up her shirt and vest before blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

Sam bows his head slightly, "You ready for a fight?"

"Itching."

"Then let's get to work."

~~~~~~~~~

"You're lucky they didn't shoot you," Mary Agnes lectured young Whitey Winn as the two of them along with Sam and his gang sat inside the jailhouse at night, polishing up and inspecting the only guns in town by candlelight after all the women came around earlier today to give up their dead husbands' weapons.

"I thought for a minute they might," the young man admits after telling the others he had just gotten back from making an alliance proposal with the Civil War veterans of Blackdom.

"But you think they'll back us?" Sam asked the boy while twirling a feather in his hand.

"They're thinking on it."

"And what makes you think they would help us in the first place?" Matilda asks from standing beside Mary Agnes, both ladies with their arms crossed and leaning against the wall.

Whitey looks up at her with a surprised expression, looking around while stuttering, "Cause they was all soldiers. I mean, they can't just-- They can't just watch us get slaughtered."

"Why not? I would, I was them," Mary Agnes admits.

Whitey looks away shamefully before addressing Sam, "Not everyone's gonna be able to fight. And even if they could, we ain't got enough guns. What we do got ain't enough to take them out in the open. Which means we're gonna have to find a way to contain the fight."

Sam nods in agreement and offers a chance to the deputy to create a stable plan, "Contain it how?" 

The scrawny blonde boy shrugs while looking around at all the guns, "We can try and keep most of it off the streets. Get them off their horses and into someplace where we got the advantage."

"Have to be someplace they couldn't burn us out," Matilda adds with a shudder and a long look at Chisolm. They were both thinking about the general store incident during the battle for Rose Creek. Tilda still has a small scar on her temple from where she had hit her head.

Mary Agnes reverts to silence as she tries to think, before taking a peek out the window beside her and sees a building across the street. A thought dawns on her as she steps closer to the window, "Say someplace made of iron and brick."

Everyone looks at Mary Agnes before looking out of the window with her, taking in the view of the La Belle Hotel before Matilda stares Mary Agnes down for reassurance, "You sure?"

"It's the strongest building in town, Charlotte's husband insisted on it," The sheriff's sister explained while turning to everyone in the room, "Frank Griffin would have a hard time burning us up from there."

"Alright, so we have our trap," Sam announces as they all gather closer around him and the table holding a small map Matilda drew out that showed the general landscape of the town. Sam points to Whitey first, "Young man, head back to Blackdom later tonight and see if they have an answer. Tell them a fellow veteran, Sam Chisolm sent you."

"Yessir."

"Now the advantage we have against Frank Griffin and his men is the fact that they're not entirely sure what they're riding into," Chisolm explains to the others, "They know the town is only filled with women, children, and broken men, but what they don't know is that you all plan on sticking to one building and jumping out with guns and bullets."

"What do you mean?" Mary asked.

"They won't expect women to be firing guns at them," he explains, "So the second they ride into our trap and they start to laugh and poke fun at you, you shoot immediately. Don't hesitate. There will be a few moments of shock that will drive them speechless enough to where we'll have the upper hand and rain hellfire on them. Hopefully, while they're still getting over their initial shock, we might hit and kill a man or two in the process and tip the scales to our side."

After discussing the plan, everyone clears out of the jailhouse and go their separate ways. Matilda sticks around longer to watch Whitey grab his horse and ride off into the darkness before joining Vas for their walk in the night back to their rooms.

"You better be kissing that Doyle woman before Griffin gets here," Tilda comments with a forced smirk, "Might be the last chance you have."

Vas snorts loud enough to shake the night sky before shaking his head, "Not my kind of woman."

"Oh? Then what is?"

His face is covered by the shadows created by his hat and the lanterns they walk by as he carefully words, "It doesn't matter, she's gone now."

"Who? One of your Marias?" Matilda asked as she remembered one of their last, drunken discussions before they had to fight in Rose Creek.

" _Si_ ," he mutters, "One of them. But I made sure she could rest peacefully. It's the least I could do for her."

Matilda stops in her tracks but Vas keeps walking until he realizes that she wasn't following him, then he turns back to wait for her. Her eyes are wide and her mouth sad as she comes to a concluding revelation, "That ranger you killed, the one that you earned a bounty for your head...?"

Slowly, the outlaw nods, "He raped and murdered my Maria in front of her family. I was away building some houses near the creek. I _did_ say he had gotten what he deserved, even if it wasn't right by law."

He looked up at the night sky to avoid the pitiful glance she sent him, but if he had actually looked than he would have seen an expression of understanding. He hears the scuffle of dirt before he feels a weight against his chest and around his waist. He's stunned for a moment when looking down to see Tilda hugging him before Vas decides to return the favor. The two friends spent several moments standing there, under the night sky, outside of the quiet houses of sleeping women and children, basking in each other's comfort and mourning for the loss of past loved ones. When slowly pulling away, Matilda flashes a genuine smile, "I need to promise you something then."

"And what's that, _Morena_?"

"If we lose, and I'm still alive after the smoke settles, then I'm not going to let them take me alive. I promise that I won't end up like your Maria. I'll blow my brains out or slit my wrists before that happens."

Vas' nearly loses color in his face and he all but makes a wounded animal noise before grabbing both of her arms and nearly shaking her, "Don't-- don't even think... don't ever--!"

"It's only if we lose, Vas," she tries soothing, "But I'm not going through what I endured with my husband or my father ever again. And if these girls are smart enough, they'll choose their own fate before Frank Griffin does."

Vasquez tries to loosen his grip on her, but he can't afford to as he tries mustering out, "You can't... I can't... I made a promise."

The way Matilda's face twists into suspicion drives the Mexican's blood cold. When she pulls away from him, he bows his head in shame, "What promise? Promise to who?"

"You already know," he bites out, slowly looking up to see that look in her eyes that only shows whenever she's reminded of _him_. She looks away, holding her arm protectively while glaring into nothing. 

"What exactly did you promise."

"That I would look out for you. That I would protect you," he sighs, "Faraday was convinced he was never going to make it out alive. He said that he always ends up doing some pretty stupid things..."

Matilda scoffs at that, but there was a hint of a smile when she remembers all those said stupid things. Faraday had introduced himself to her drunk off his horse's ass, after all. As a matter of fact, most of the stupid things that he did was while he was drunk... Hell, Matilda had only known him for a week and it felt as though she had known him for years after trying to list off every stupid little thing he'd done. She wasn't exactly sure if that made her feel better or worse about everything that's happened. Or maybe it just doesn't make her feel anything at all.

"I get that a promise is a promise," she starts out, looking back at Vas, "But he's gone now. You don't have to protect me."

"I'm not protecting you because of some promise I made to a love-struck _cabron_ late one night," he points out, "I'm protecting you now because I want to. _Nadie volverá a lastimar a mi familia nunca más_."

And she didn't have to fully know Spanish to know what he was trying to say as he also spoke it with such volume in his eyes. She gave him a watery smile while nodding, "Alright, and what would you like to do on the last night of our lives?"

"Some whiskey would be nice," he grins triumphantly at the laugh that erupts from her mouth.

~~~~~~~~~

"Anywhere with a clear shot of the street."

Matilda stood beside Mary Agnes outside of the hotel to help hand out guns to the women lining up to fight. Some still wore their everyday dresses, except for Charlotte Temple, who always dresses in her Sunday best, but then there were a few women who took a page out of Mary Agnes and Matilda's book and decided to wear their late husbands' old trousers and belts. As Mary Agnes gave out the guns and instructed the women where to station themselves, Tilda would give them quick reminders on how to load, aim, fire, and reload.

"Anywhere with a clear shot of the street," Mary Agnes felt the heavy, silent air as no one appeared to be in a particular mood this morning. As she hands out the weapons, each woman passing her appeared to be as pale as when they are on their monthly moons. Handing another gun to a younger girl, she changes instruction, "Why don't you head into the parlor."

The girl nods and tries to smile when stepping into the hotel. One of the elderly women steps right up to Mary and the younger gives her a pistol while whispering, "Why don't you go into the dining room?"

Sarah Doyle steps up next and she's visibly shaking, Charlotte watching her friend from the sidelines with a wet face. Mary gives Sarah a gun and leans in to whisper her placement, "Hide in the dining room."

Sarah nods and walks away and the line of women continues on like that, "Anywhere with a clear shot of the street."

Matilda sees a slight pause in Mary's actions, however, when the schoolteacher, Callie Dunne, steps up with trousers and a hat. Before Tilda could make anything of it, Mary breaks eye contact with the former whore and presents a rifle to her while unable to look at her, "Anywhere with a clear shot of the street."

Callie hesitates and meekly nods before moving to step into the hotel, but she doesn't get far as Mary grabs her arm when passing by. Callie looks back in time to watch Mary hand her a second gun; a pistol, before they nod at each other and the schoolteacher heads inside. Mary's smirk returns when looking off somewhere and Tilda and Charlotte turn to see the foreign German woman, Martha, who usually walks around the town naked steps up onto the hotel's porch, fully clothed and fully armed with a sly look on her face. 

Mary's eyes gleam with what appeared to be respect as she announces, "You put yourself any place you want," Martha sternly nods in understanding and goes to walk in, but Mary flags her down again, "Hey," the woman turns back and Mary leans forward with curiosity, "What happened to that detective fella?"

Martha's curious look turns into a grin and a quirk of a well-groomed eyebrow before silently walking into the hotel. Mary looks back to her task with an impressed look on her face while handing out guns and instructing other women, "Anywhere with a clear shot of the street. Anywhere with a clear shot of the street. Put yourself in the parlor. Anywhere with a clear shot of the street."

It was only after Mary finished handing out all the guns did she noticed Whitey approach on foot while leading his horse into town, the tired beast carrying what appeared to be two young, dark-skinned children, a little boy and a pretty girl not much younger than Whitey himself. As Whitey helps them down from his horse, Mary approaches them and he explains what happened, "They're in Blackdom. We've been riding around in circles, hiding all night, so as not to lead them here."

"If they're out there, they already know where we are. Put them kids with the others."

"I ain't no more of a kid than he is," the girl spoke while motioning to Whitey with a bitter tongue, "I'm gonna stay here and fight with the rest of you. They killed all my family. I'm gonna kill each and every one of them before this day's over."

She gently touches her little brother's face before hiking up the steps of the hotel and grabbing a gun. Mary looks back to exchange a look with Whitey and smiles, "I see why you like her."

Mary Agnes moved over to help Charlotte find her own weapon while Whitey takes the small boy to find a hiding place for him among the rest of the women and children. Matilda watches Mary explain to Charlotte how the small pistol work but the nervous woman couldn't stop rubbing her hands and looking small as the dead mayor's former stone wife shows her the ropes,   
"You open it like this. Load it like so..." Mary looks up and sees Matilda looking around and decides to just give Charlotte the gun while planning to walk over to Miss Persuasion, "Excuse me."

She steps down from the hotel porch and approaches the distant Matilda, "We got everything?"

"And everyone," Tilda replies, while still looking around as if mapping out the terrain, "But it's not going to be enough."

"You and seven other men were able to fight off two-hundred men in Rose Creek."

"Yes, but we had more men on our side. Soldiers and even farmers who were willing to learn how to fight," Matilda explained, "Nearly a dozen women against thirty professional killers is not going to be enough." 

A gunshot startles the quiet air so profusely, Matilda's hand is shaking by the time she has her gun out and pointing at the potential threat. Charlotte immediately has her hand out in surrender while slowly crouching down to pick up the gun she dropped with a pathetic apology, "I-I'm sorry."

Mary Agnes didn't appear shaken but when she turns back to look at Matilda, she sees the gun she was still holding up to Charlotte was shaking in her hand and the McNue woman gently pushes the weapon down to aim at the dirt before Tilda finally looked away from Charlotte, ashamed and still shaking as she slowly put her gun away.

"Was Rose Creek the last time you fought?" Mary questioned suspiciously.

"Define fought," Matilda muttered as she watches her hands continue to shake. She wasn't expecting such a reaction from her body to a gunshot and didn't remember the last time she even heard a gunshot. Has is it only been since Rose Creek? Not before now? She can't remember a gun ever being shot off when Two-Gun Kid tried to threaten her, and that had been the last time she was ever truly in danger up until now. As she tried taking deep breaths to regain her posture, her eyes nearly watered at the idea of Goodnight acting like this before she swallowed down that thought hard enough to grit her teeth and dry her eyes before they spill. She gives Mary a nod as a way of reassuring the other woman that she was alright before tilting her head in the hotel's direction, "You know a lot of these folks ain't gonna make it."

Mary folds her arms and looks off down the road before shuffling her feet and nodding down at the dirt, "Yeah."

"But we're gonna do our best," Matilda motions up at Red Harvest standing on top of a roof opposite of the hotel, then over at Vasquez and Sam hiding in the front room of the hotel among the other ladies, helping them turn over furniture to make tiny hideouts. Mary Agnes watches those men for a few moments before turning back to Matilda, eyeing her wearily.

"And where are you gonna stand?"

"Up top with you and Alice," Matilda grinned while leading Mary Agnes back to the hotel, "I have a history with falling off of rooftops and surviving, so I consider this a challenge," she lets Mary Agnes snort before continuing with a soft smile, "...Actually, this reminds me of this fella I used to know. Fell off a five-story building. Passed each floor on the way down. People inside heard him say, _'So far, so good!'_ ...He's dead now."

Mary Agnes actually laughs much harder this time and Tilda smiles at the sight. Letting the tougher woman go on ahead of her, Matilda finds her lips curling up and smiling to herself at the thought of the man behind that story. She couldn't help but think, deep down, that Faraday and his stories were with her today. Mary Agnes heads inside the hotel with the other woman not far behind her, Vasquez turning when Tilda enters and grinning, "Do you want me to protect our horses this time around?"

She scoffs, "Nah, they'll be fine. Rose Creek was riskier. And I have a feeling Frank Griffin has respect for animals. Besides, the bastards will be shooting at the hotel rather than the stables."

"Probably for the best," Vas winks, "I think our horses like to stick close to each other now more than ever, don't you think?"

"If your beast gets _my_ Nessie pregnant, I'm going to kill you, understand?" Matilda glares playfully while pointing an accusing finger at her friend, " _Le cortaré las bolas y lo asaré sobre un fuego para que comas_."

Vasquez laughs just as Sam walks up to them, nodding his head at Tilda, "We all ready to go?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," Matilda looks around, "Where's the deputy?"

"He figured that as the deputy of La Belle, he wanted to go down fighting at the La Belle jailhouse."

Mary Agnes squints her eyes at Sam when hearing the news but doesn't say anything. Instead, she heaves a big sigh and heads up the stairs to the roof of the hotel. Matilda goes to follow her up there before Vas gently grabs her arm. Turning back to him, Matilda noticed the expected smile and hopeful eyes.

"I'll see you when the smoke lifts, _Morena_."

She smiles before leaning over and hugging him again, her arms around his neck as she whispered in his ear, "Don't go dying without me, ya hear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please please PLEASE forgive me if the Spanish I snatched off of Google Translate is wrong XDD in my defense, Matilda is still learning so if it doesn't make sense then it works just as well for the story lol


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The danger has finally arrived in La Belle, and so has Faraday and his crew.

_Faraday knew he needed to let Jack rest, but after being told from the last town he and his other companions stopped at that the town of La Belle was about a half of a days ride away, he had started to become antsy in his saddle if he wasn't before.  
_

_"Would you quit moving around like you have sand in your pants?" Goodnight snapped that afternoon as they began to ride through a vast forest full of fallen trees, "You're making me nervous."_

_"Please," Faraday grins, "I just saw you take your fifth smoke and it's not even a full day yet."_

_He was right. The others were starting to show nervous ticks as well. Goodnight was taking more Opium smokes than he usually would during the day, Horne was starting to hum certain gospels instead of reciting bible verses, and Billy was fucking **repeating** them as if talking so much was a complete norm to him let alone singing! Faraday wondered for how long Billy had been able to hide such a wonderful talent since after listening to his voice, the assassin appeared to sing quite beautifully. Either way, upon further inspection, Faraday could fully observe that he wasn't the only one hoping that their friends hadn't ridden from La Belle quite yet. _

_Horne chuckles slightly at the betrayed look on Goodnight's face just as Billy's horse stopped right in front of them. Goody and Faraday had to pull back on their own reins tight enough so that their horses could stop just in time, but that only appeared to rile up the tired animals further._

_"You want to give us a warning next time, **cher**?" Goody asked his partner as he tried getting a hold of his steed._

_"Quiet," Billy muttered under his breath, only staring dead ahead while slowly reaching for his belt, "I heard other horses."_

_The others all but hold their breaths as their horses finally relaxed, taking the opportunity to breathe when the beasts had realized they were stopping. There was indeed movement up ahead, and before long two other men on top of horses came trudging down to meet the four other companions halfway. The first one to speak, a man with a mustache and a badge, tilted his hat to them._

_"Afternoon gentlemen."_

_"Good afternoon, sir!" Goodnight was quick to flash a smile and briefly lift his hat from his head. Billy didn't seem interested in the law enforcement man and kept a wary eye on the man beside him, who appeared to be scrawny and possibly the same height as Billy but just as intimidating._

_"Might I ask which way y'all are heading?" The man leaned forward on his saddle with a tight smile._

_"To a town called La Belle, sir," Faraday turned to glare at Goodnight's honesty seeing as they don't know these men and if they were any trouble then they would just be delayed in getting to said destination._

_The man's smile fades for a moment, looking over and exchanging a glance with his traveling companion before he straightens up his back, "I'm the Sheriff of La Belle. My name is Bill McNue. This here is Mr. Ward."_

_"What business do you have in La Belle?" the other man, Mr. Ward, finally speaks up and only stares at Billy, who doesn't even appear to look away from him._

_"My name is Goodnight Robicheaux," Goody introduces himself before pointing at his companions one by one, "This here is Joshua Faraday, Billy Rocks, and Jack Horne."_

_"Those are quite the celebrity names," Mr. Ward points out, "I've heard some things on some of you."_

_"Good things, I am sure," Goody nods, "If you've heard of us, then you've probably heard that we're not people who make trouble. Just going around, making our living while helping a few folks out."_

_"I haven't heard any bad things about you, that's for sure," Mr. Ward leans away, "But that doesn't mean that answers why you have business in La Belle."_

_"We have a message to deliver to a certain woman. Perhaps you know her? Callie Dunne?"_

_"I know Callie," McNue slowly nods, "...She's my children's schoolteacher. And what message do you want to deliver to her that needs all four of you to deliver it?"_

_"A message from a relation; her sister," Goody clarifies as he slowly takes out the letter from his jacket, being decent and harmless by jumping off of his horse to walk over and deliver the parchment to the Sheriff of La Belle to show that he is no potential threat. Billy's muscles appeared to tighten around his back, Faraday noticed and his hand hovered over his knives to prove to Mr. Ward that he will cause harm if Goody is taken advantage of while off his horse._

_As McNue takes out a pair of broken spectacles to read the letter for himself, Goodnight smiles up at Mr. Ward and continues, "But the reason the four of us are traveling together is because we also have relations waiting for us in La Belle. Seeing as you folks are out here, I wonder if you aren't aware of them."_

_"I just came from there," Mr. Ward points out while McNue returns the letter to Goody, "The Sheriff here has been away from town for a while and I was just escorting him back. I'm assuming your relations are with three men and a woman, all of different backgrounds?"_

_Goody's eyes were nearly shining and nods, "Yessir."  
_

_Ward looks at McNue for a moment where they appeared to share the same expression of understanding before he turns back to the four men opposite of them, relaxing a little while explaining, "Then we'll ride together back into town. But... you should probably know that by the time we get there, La Belle may become a war zone."_

_"What the hell does that mean?" Faraday frowns in confusion._

_McNue reaches into his pocket and holds out a burnt piece of the newspaper clipping to Jack Horne as he was the closest within reach after Goody retreated to his horse's back again. Horne takes the newspaper and reads for a few moments, his lips move silently along the paper before looking up at the two gentlemen, "Who is Roy Goode?"_

_"That'd be me, sir," Mr. Ward says almost shamefully as Horne hands the newspaper over to Goodnight while turning towards the others to explain the situation._

_"It appears as though this young fella right here is wanted by a very dangerous man," Horne explains to Billy and Faraday while Goodnight continued to read on his own, "Frank Griffin. I've heard about him. He shames all who read the good Lord's will. And if this paper is right--"_

_"It ain't," McNue cuts in._

_"It doesn't matter. Frank Griffin will believe it," Goodnight cuts in while handing the newspaper clipping over to Billy next, the atmosphere between the strangers change as they discuss the situation, "And he's no doubt closer to getting to La Belle than we are if the publication date on that paper is correct. Sam and the others are probably helping the locals get ready for a fight as we speak."_

_Billy's face hardens if that's even possible while reading the paper before finally handing it over to Faraday. The gambler reads a few of the words as the paper talks about the town of La Belle for some time before mentioning how the ladies there were harboring a fugitive, Roy Goode. Then it mentions some current happenings caused by Roy Goode trying to antagonize Frank Griffin and his men, such as the manslaughter that took place in a town called Creede and then a promise from Frank Griffin that he will murder any man, woman, or child who even dares hide Roy Goode from him. Goodnight and the others watch Faraday's expression remain stoic the entire time he reads the article before he crumples it up into a ball and stares dead ahead at Roy with a heated glare._

_"How many men does he have."_

_"Thirty at the most. Hard sons of bitches."_

_"And you was one of them," Faraday accuses._

_"That's right. **Was** ," Roy corrected while shifting carefully on his horse, "Now, I didn't want to intentionally endanger anyone. I had left the first chance I got in hopes Frank Griffin would never touch La Belle but by then, it was too late. The papers had just been printed and shipped. The Sheriff here was tracking Frank and his men when he also heard the news and found me," the other men watch Sheriff McNue for a moment before letting the fugitive continue to explain the situation, "Now these men are smart. Real smart--"_

_"Well, luckily for La Belle, Sam Chisolm, and his companions are smarter," Goodnight cuts in while sitting up taller and gripping his reins tighter, "Frank Griffin won't stand a chance."_

_"He might not, considering he only has one arm now," Roy explained, "But his men might. They all have certain sets of skills that make them special to Frank in their own way. Reliable."_

_"So do we," Billy accentuates by flicking out a knife in the speed of lightning and letting the blade fall between his fingers like it was second nature to him, which it was, all the while Roy carefully watches him and Bill McNue has to squint to do the same._

_"As I was saying," Roy continued, still watching Billy's knife cautiously, "Griffin is smart enough to hit Blackdom first. It's a town an hour's ride outside of La Belle full of Buffalo soldiers and Civil War veterans. He'll try taking out the most prominent threat before moving onto La Belle. And if that's true, then maybe we still have time to get to the town before they do."_

_"Then if that's the case, we'll need a plan," Goody offers, "Might you have one?"_

_"We might," McNue nodded._

_Faraday gently kicks Jack's sides, "Then let's go."_

~~~~~~~~~

They first saw the loose dirt being kicked and rising in the air as if a huge beast was rolling around in it to try and scratch his back. It was far enough away to look like a distant storm, which it might as well be, but everyone could tell it was coming from Blackdom. 

The wind howls in order to drown out the silence covering La Belle, not a single word was spoken and barely anyone breathed, all waiting with prayers and regret. In the distance, what was once believed to be far-away thunder is slowly starting to turn into several hooves pounding. The town was so quiet, Matilda could hear a door creaking from down the road and even a bird's caw from way up in the mountains. The wind still howling in her ears, the woman turns to watch the entry road with Mary Agnes and Alice Fletcher as she faintly heard a horse's whinnies somewhere out in the fields. Sure enough, a stream of horses that looked like ants from their spot up on top of the hotel started appearing from out of the trees, heading straight for the bridge to get into town. 

Matilda refuses to let her heart drop down into her stomach and swallows her fear, straightening her shoulders while resting her hunting rifle against her, turning to Mary Agnes when the McNue woman spoke,

"Ain't nothing but pure-ass luck gonna save us now," she tells her female companions while loading her rifle.

Matilda grips her barrel to try and hold onto it better with the way her palms began to sweat, "Now remember, try to get headshots only. We don't have the time or the resources to go and waste half a dozen bullets just to make sure one man stays down." 

There's an echo of hooves riding over wood, signaling Frank and his men were over the bridge now, drawing even closer. They'll be riding past MacDalena's House of Rapture right about now and then soon after will pass the nearly empty stables, pulling on their reins as they make it just outside the hotel.

"Get down," Matilda tells Alice and Mary, "We'll take 'em by surprise."

They both nod to her then duck down over the side so they won't be seen just as Frank Griffin and his men arrive, slowly stopping their herd of horses while looking around just outside the building of women. In the distance, they can here men getting off their horses, searching the town as they kick open doors and even break windows. 

"Where is everybody?" One man, Alonzo Bunker, demanded from his horse.

"Up there," one of the twin boys Frank keeps around, possibly Daryl Delvin, sees something out of the corner of his eye and nods up to the hotel.

Slowly, all of the curtains of the windows begin to tuck back and reveal all the women peeking out of the dirty windows, staring down at the crowd of men before them. The other Delvin twin, Donnie, grins in anticipation, "Hello, ladies."

Mary Agnes doesn't appear to like that and stands up from her hiding spot, peering down from the rooftop and firing, hitting Donnie Delvin square in the chest. He was dead before he could even fall off his horse or before Mary could even reload.

With that initial shock slowly sinking in, Donnie's twin skips a couple of steps of grieving and hits anger in a heartbeat, swearing up at Mary Agnes, "You goddamn bitch!"

"Go, go, go!" Vasquez shouts from one hotel room.

Suddenly, the shutters to the windows begin to open, one by one, as fast as the women could handle before they all quickly reach for their guns. Before Frank and his boys knew what was happening, Matilda Crawford also stuck her head out of the rooftop and shouted down,

_"Welcome to No Man's Land, gentlemen!"_

Callie Dunne is the first to shoot, and so she became the first target for Frank's men. When they all aim at her, Alice decides to pop out and shoot down at the first men with a gun out that she sees. She's able to kill him and knock him from his horse just as the shooting gallery begins.

Glass is shattering everywhere from stray bullets missing their targets, creating a vast amount of debris flying around. Sam finds the courage to open both front doors of the hotel and kneels right in the open of it to start shooting, again, catching more men by surprise as he has both guns out and hitting every one of his targets. It's all-out chaos now as the men down below begin to shout and shoot, dying in anguish if they don't bring their guns out in time. Their horses begin to panic and scatter against their rider's command, the poor beasts wanting to run before they, too, are caught in the crossfire. The women in the parlor and lobby keep their heads down behind the furniture while providing Sam cover as they shoot through the windows.

As for Matilda, she keeps her aim and breathing steady enough to wait and shoot two men in the head while only using a single bullet. It goes without saying that hitting two birds with one stone is easier said than done as she is not so lucky the next time around and wastes a few bullets on another man as he maneuvered his horse to be in front of him. Vasquez was stationed in one of the far left windows of the hotel and has already discarded his rifle for his two usual pistols, having some luck with killing a few of the blasted men. Red Harvest doesn't run out of arrows as nearly as fast as he did in Rose Creek as he now had fewer targets to shoot at from across the way of the hotel. He had already killed five men before they realized they were being shot at from both sides of the street and started firing at him as well. Matilda, just like in Rose Creek, made sure to pay extra attention in aiming at any men shooting in Red's direction as a way to cover him easier. 

"Down on your right!" One woman calls from the parlor as a way of warning the women in the lobby that one man was trying to make it through the doorway. He barely steps foot inside before Sam comes out from behind the door and shoots him at point-blank in the head.

Callie already runs out of ammo in her rifle and gently tosses the weapon onto the hotel room's bed, exchanging it for the pistol Mary Agnes gave her and starts shooting out the window again in no time, covering herself by kneeling just inside the pane. Louise, Whitey's little lady friend from Blackdom, was hiding from the window beside her as she was hurriedly trying to reload her gun.

Martha and her window partner also duck down to reload together, never saying a word but keeping their heads out of the way of the window. Frank Griffin is still found right in the middle of all this havoc, untouched and still calm, not even drawing his gun as he almost appeared bored. He looks around as some of his men walk around town, setting fire to all of the nearby stores and houses, even shooting the General store clerk when he came out of his shop with a gun in his hand.

"I'm press! I'm press! I surrender!" Frank looks over his shoulder to spot A.T. Grigg exit the saloon while waving a white handkerchief but doesn't make it very far as he's shot twice in the torso and goes falling down to bleed and hide behind a wagon, pressing his precious newspaper to his wounds. 

"Whoo!"

Alice and Mary Agnes band together, slowly walking alongside the railing to the rooftop next to each other and shooting at whatever leftover men the other might have forgotten or wasn't able to kill right away. 

"Woah! Look out!" One man warns Frank as one of Mary Agnes' bullets hit and kills a man from right beside him.

Mary Agnes and Alice realize who it is and reload simultaneously, side-stepping across the roof nearly in sync as they have their sights set on Griffin, following his movements as he moves his horse slowly down the road. They shoot a couple of men around him and try aiming at him again, the old man even staring up and making eye contact at them with his arm raised, waiting for them. Hesitant, they quickly take aim and pull the trigger, only to have their chambers come up empty and they hurriedly duck away from the sides to reload. 

The men continue to holler and fire back up at the many windows of the hotel, Daryl Delvin using this as a distraction and rushing his horse up onto the porch and through the front doors of the hotel. He kills one woman in the parlor before forcing his horse up onto the stairwell, killing another as he makes the climb. Once he gets onto the top of the staircase, he sees one woman in a hotel room as he passes by and doesn't hesitate to fire, killing her. Martha doesn't even see her window partner's killer... but she sees the aftermath and is horrified. 

Daryl earns a bullet to the shoulder but quickly turns and shoots down the woman aiming at him from down the hallway. Angrily, he yells for his horse to continue the climb up. While Sam was distracted with hauling a wounded young woman behind the hotel's turned-over piano, Alonzo Bunker has managed to sneak into the hotel by horseback as well and kills three women upon reentry, only angering Sarah Doyle as she was sitting next to one of his targets as she begins to fire furiously back. He steers his horse out of the room and aims into the other side of the entryway, killing one other woman in trousers right between her eyes. 

Finally, Alice and Mary Agnes have their guns reloaded and stand back up to join Matilda in shooting the remaining men, but are not aware of Daryl finally getting up onto the roof, still on his horse's back. He fires immediately at Mary Agnes, hitting her in the arm but she barely even flinches as the hard woman stares at the wound for a moment and then assessing the situation. Daryl comes barreling towards the women as the three of them all start firing at him.

As Alonzo and his horse also make it up the hotel stairs, another man of Frank's lassos a woman from behind the front desk of the hotel, dragging her out and over it, flinging her across the floor as his horse races down a hallway. With that momentum and speed, the woman is thrown into a wall and falls down dead after everyone hears a distinct crack.

Mary Agnes decides to take out her pistol and starts firing back at Daryl with that instead, Matilda and Alice still using their rifles and riddling the remaining twin with bullets. He's shot half a dozen times by the time he reaches them, but his horse stops just before the edge and he's sent flying off the roof, screaming to his death. The three women take a moment to breathe before their back in the game. 

Alonzo makes it up to the top of the stairs and also fires at the first woman he sees, and unfortunately its Martha as he shoots her in the side. She falls down with a cry, grasping her wound while Alonzo continues down the hall. Further downstairs, Charlotte is trying to reload her pistol with shaking hands as she's hunkered down in the kitchen. One of Frank's men on a horse trudges past and sees her, taking aim but doesn't fire as the liveryman, Hiram comes out of nowhere and fires at Frank's boy with a rifle. 

Callie hears a commotion outside her room and peers out to see Alonzo heading towards her. She starts to fire as his horse starts to race at her at full speed. Her gun only clicks when she fires and she starts to panic while furiously trying to load as her initial killer stalks forward at an increasing speed. Alonzo, wounded in the shoulder, was unable to aim correctly and is only able to shoot at the window right behind Callie, making the small woman flinch as she's trying to reload. Finally, she gets at least one bullet in the chamber and plays a little Russian roulette just in time for Alonzo and his horse to be right in front of her. Luckily for her, the gun goes off straight away and shoots Alonzo before sidestepping into her hotel room, both the man and his horse crashing through the window and into a cloud of fire down below. 

An abrupt silence falls over Frank's ears as he heavily eyes the dead body of Daryl Delvin not far away from where he and his horse stood. Looking away and moving forward, he fails to see a white horse coming into town from behind him, the rider trying to appear invisible as he makes a beeline for the jailhouse. No one manages to spot him yet and so once he gets to the jailhouse, Sheriff Bill McNue dismounts from his horse and crouches low as he spots a body nearby. Reaching the corpse so that his eyesight might see it better, he's saddened to find that it is his own deputy, Whitey Winn, lying down dead on his stomach just in the open doorway of the jailhouse. Turning the body over, McNue trembles as he mutters a few words,

"I'm so sorry, son."

Respectfully, McNue takes off his jacket, his badge still attached as he throws it over Whitey to cover his once young and spirited face. Tears in his eyes that were not yet shed, McNue slowly stands as he looks onto the hotel, seeing the chaos is not too far away and becomes more determined than ever before. 

In the distance, Martha hears her name being called and recognizes it as the detective fella she had previously shot and nursed back to health. Full of worry, the foreign woman forces herself onto her feet, clutching her wound as she stands. Charlotte has gotten up from her spot in the kitchen to eye the body Hiram just killed for her, pistol now finally gripped correctly in her hand. Frank's men were being killed and then thrown through the hotel windows, drawing the women back and stuck in a few corners of the parlor and lobby. Sam tries to assist in any way he can but finds himself easily occupied whenever one of Frank's men tries coming in through the front door. Charlotte unimpressively shoots at the body of the man already dead several times while Sarah is in the other room cowering behind a wooden chair as the room explodes around her with splinters and glass. Martha looks down the staircase with a pained expression before drawing both of her pistols, taking deep breaths before rushing down. Hiram takes point and leads Charlotte out of the kitchen, the two of them getting as far as the next room before Hiram is shot down and killed, leaving Charlotte open for a gunshot to the leg. One woman covers for Sarah as she goes to fetch Charlotte, the taller woman continuing to fire while dragging the wounded Charlotte over to the corner of the room for cover. Martha continues down the stairs, firing constantly once she sees the men outside. She's able to kill a man off his horse just outside the front door once she makes it into the entryway before she's forced back into the parlor and hides behind some furniture with the other women there. Sarah and Charlotte are forced to lower themselves onto the floor, nearly crying as Charlotte's hand draws back bloody. Callie and Louise are huddled together underneath a window, their weapons emptied and forgotten as the schoolteacher tries to shield the Blackdom girl from stray bullets as much as she could, both flinching every time a bullet makes its way inside. 

Over time, as it was starting to feel like it would never end, the gunfire just slowly stops as Frank Griffin looks on. While his men try to reload and recuperate, the women of La Belle quickly rush to do the same, Callie and Louise diving for the hotel room's bed to grab whatever ammunition and weapons they have left. Sarah and Charlotte are hopelessly crying while trying to reload their pistols, panting out of exhaustion and pain. Alice, Matilda, and Mary Agnes appear unharmed from their station on the rooftop, aside from Mary's bullet wound to the arm as they hurry to reload their rifles. Mary Agnes peers over the side for just a moment and sees someone she recognized walking towards Frank and his men.

"What in good holy hell?"

Her brother, Bill McNue, appeared out of nowhere, on foot, alone, and with only one rifle in his arms. Callie and Louise eye him from their windows cautiously while Frank Griffin's right-hand man, Gatz Brown spots McNue coming up from their right side and warns his boss.

"Frank."

Griffin looks over and sees the Sheriff of La Belle instantly. The men with Frank and even the women in the hotel watch McNue silently, while Griffin slowly reaches over to his gun and carefully cocks it while watching the Sheriff. The broken man looks down at the ground for a moment before seeing his shadow, straightening back up and loading his rifle.

"He's going to get himself killed," Matilda mutters while gripping her rifle close to her chest, "Get ready, ladies. Soon we'll need to back him up. If we can just--"

Her voice drowns to the sound of another rifle loading, echoing down the streets of La Belle and causing everyone to turn their heads away from McNue. Everyone leans closer to see what the noise might be while through the dust and smoke emerged Roy Goode on the back of a dark horse. No one is given the time to sink in the fact that he was back before Frank aimed his gun at Roy, but the younger man was faster and shot at the man right in front of Griffin, causing the older man to hesitate. 

Bill McNue considers that his cue and starts to fire at Frank's men from the other side of them and before long the people of La Belle were back in the game. Alice, Mary, and Matilda decide to pitch in and start firing back down at the men as they have yet to open fire again after McNue and Roy showed up. Despite losing his eyesight, McNue was able to take out a few men of his own as Roy rides through the crowd of them and also shooting quite a bit of them off their horses. He jumps off his own once he reaches McNue and joins him on the ground, the two men firing at the crowd of men cornered between them and the hotel.

"I ain't blind yet!" The Sheriff shouts to him.

Sam watches in awe of the scene before firing at Frank's men through the window. By now, Red Harvest was forced to jump off his rooftop as the building was on fire and cut Frank's men off from escaping through an alleyway as Roy and McNue continue to fire at them. Vasquez emerges from his window and fires back down upon them, shouting profanities in Spanish and laughing. Matilda exchanges rifles with Mary Agnes after she had emptied her clip, the Sheriff's sister ducking back down to reload Matilda's weapon while Matilda continues on shooting with hers.

Chisolm is about ready to walk out of the hotel and close the doors behind him so as the women inside were far more protected before he hears a familiar war cry ring out in the distance, causing the warrant officer to freeze in disbelief. 

Roy doesn't need to look behind him to know that Goodnight Robicheaux was riding up on his right-hand side, hollering as he does while skillfully firing off his rifle, shooting three men dead within a few seconds of each other, whooping in his small victory before continuing to fire. Meanwhile, Martha has finally found a window of opportunity and makes it outside the hotel, shooting as she goes while trying to get to her detective. The poor man is shot a couple of times and currently has a gun to his head before Martha comes in and finishes the opposing man just in time. 

Jack Horne joins the party while using his full weight to jump up and knock a man off his horse just like the good old times. As he brings out a knife to stab the man to death, Matilda looks over the railing of the rooftop and shoots another one of Frank's men that had aimed his weapon in Horne's general direction.

She had seen the familiar furs covering the rather large body of the bear of a man. She noticed another man on his horse with a familiar grayish-blue jacket and aiming skills but she shakes her head to try and clear herself of the hallucinations caused by exhaustion. She knows better than to get her hopes up only to drag herself down. Taking a deep breath, she makes her next move.

Back on the ground, Roy's rifle empties and he throws it at one of Frank's men to distract him then quickly brings out his pistol, killing the man and continuing to fire on all the other men he used to travel with. Callie and Louise continue firing out of their respected windows and even cover Sam Chisolm when he emerges from the hotel down below. Crouching low when bullets are fired just above his head, Sam wasn't prepared to have someone sneak past him from inside the hotel and towards the stables. He hears a familiar whistle and looks up, spotting Matilda of all people among the dusty clouds jumping up onto her horse and riding off towards the mountains.

"CRAWFORD! Matilda, WAIT!" He calls after her, not knowing where she was going despite reading the determination on her face for the split second he saw her. Now she had disappeared amongst the chaos. 

The remaining women of La Belle continue to push and fight back despite their exhaustion and fear. Gatz decides he's just about had enough of this bullshit and charges himself and his horse at McNue, the blind Sheriff able to pinpoint and fire at him within seconds. Gatz falls off his horse and hits the ground rather harshly. His hands shaking, Gatz reaches for his fallen gun but McNue still has his sights on him, shooting him in the head just as he was raising his pistol. Dyre Howe, the specialized knife thrower of Frank Griffin's gang decides to dismount his horse and make a beeline for Roy as the man is currently reloading his pistol while still kneeling on the ground from a previous encounter. Dyre takes out one of his knives and raises his arm to throw, only to scream in pain when a different knife digs into said arm in return. Grunting while trying to take the knife out, Dyre is unprepared to fight off Billy Rocks as the man of the Orient withdraws his hairpin and digs it into the man's neck, killing him instantly. Roy looks up to watch this interaction before nodding to Billy in thanks. Alice shoots another man trying to pursue Roy as he finally stands up to rejoin the fight, all the while Sam raced out and tries to find the source of that familiar hollering. 

One of Frank's men sees Chisolm and aims as he is currently distracted, only to die with his finger still on the trigger as Goodnight appears from the dust again, rounding his horse to stop right in front of Sam.

"How many times are we going to have to save one another before we're even, Mister Chisolm?"

Sam has never laughed so loud in his entire life.

Vasquez has finally joined the others outside of the hotel and continues firing his guns, his belt only having a few bullets left to spare. Looking around, he sees a man jump off a familiar horse and hesitates to aim at him, cautious as to whether not he was a foe. Vas was sure he had left that damn beast of a horse with Teddy Q back in Rose Creek, but after the horse known as Jack runs off to reveal the man once riding him, Vas doesn't hesitate to shoot a bastard from Frank's group who was about to come at his friend with a rifle.

Joshua Faraday turns around to watch the man about to kill him fall down with a bullet through his brain and looks up to see who had saved him, grinning like a fox caught in the hen house, "Hola, muchacho. Did ya miss me?"

" _Maldita sea, lo hice_ ," Vasquez is grumbling all the way towards his formerly lost companion, chuckling despite himself as he goes to clap Faraday's shoulders while shaking his head in disbelief, " _Güero_ , what kind of deal did you make with the Devil, huh?"

Faraday grins as though he was keeping a secret he forbid to tell before the two friends embrace.

Silence crept over the town, Roy unable to see much anymore while the dust was still thick. He aimed his guns a few times whenever he heard a noise, but would lower the weapon again when the noise appeared to be a runaway horse or an ally. The dust looked as though it was thickening and so Mary Agnes and Alice go to get off the roof to see if they could get a better look at the situation. McNue and Roy walk further into the dust, cocking their weapons just to be safe and meet up with Horne and Red who had found each other through the smoke. Eventually, Billy is there and then Goody and Sam. Faraday and Vasquez are not too far behind them as the wind howling all around them decides to be kind and clear up all of the dust and smoke. When the area begins to clear up, the remaining men defending the town find that there are bodies scattered everywhere, some still with their horses while others by their lonesome. Looking towards one another and exchanging glances, the men nod and spread out to check the bodies for any signs of life. As McNue limps past the hotel, the remaining women of La Belle start to trickle out once they realize that the danger appeared to be over. They cough and groan in pain and exhaustion, limping out of the hotel until Charlotte and Sarah emerge, the latter still supporting the wounded short woman as they only go as far as the front porch steps to rest. 

Even A.T. Grigg still appeared to be alive or at least breathing as he crawls out of his hiding space while clutching the newspaper dampened with blood. Martha and her detective man limp over to rest on the side of a building, the woman bringing their conjoined, bloodied hands to her lips, not caring that she smeared her mouth with the red liquid. 

"How is this... Why are you--" Sam is looking around at Goodnight, Billy, Horne and then finally resting his eyes on Faraday while sighing in relief, "How are you all alive?"

"Would it be too cruel as to say you're only dreaming?" Faraday questioned but is quickly knocked upside the head by Vasquez, who despite all else is still grinning. 

"Very cruel, Faraday," Goodnight frowned at the gambler before turning to smile at his old friend, "It's a long story, Sam... but in the end, you can thank the determination of Rose Creek along with Emma Cullen's miraculous healing hands."

"Oh, so _he_ can get away with saying _that_?" Faraday is appalled when no one reacts to Goody's comment, but they all decide to react to his by laughing, out of relief or pure amusement, no one was really sure. 

Callie Dunne barely registers their laughter as she looks around at the damage and bloodshed of her town, still shaking profusely while on the brink of crying. She barely registers Mary Agnes stomping out of the hotel and marching towards the nearest dead body, shooting it a second time for good measure. As she went to each body and shooting to determine the death, Callie jumps in her skin at each bullet the other woman fires, her lip beginning to tremble.

"Easy, sister," McNue grabs Mary Agnes by the shoulder, turning her towards him so she may stop shooting, "They only need to be killed but once," when he knows that his sister was relaxing, he eyes her with suspicion, "Where are my children?"

Without hesitating, Mary Agnes turns around and McNue follows her gaze to see the rest of La Belle such as the broken men, frightful women, and their children return to their town from a cloud of dust covering them from their hiding place. The Sheriff calls to his son and daughter when he sees them, running to William and Trudy McNue before falling to his knees to hug them, crying out of relief and joy to see his wife's babies are okay.

Alice appears from the doorway of the hotel, looking around with her rifle still in her arms but decides that maybe she should go to make sure that the strange men hovering around Chisolm, Red, and Vasquez were allies. Trudging over to them, she eyes them all cautiously before turning to Sam, "Friends of yours?"

"Alice Fletcher, meet Goodnight Robicheaux, Billy Rocks, Jack Horne, and Joshua Faraday, the remaining heroes of Rose Creek."

"I thought they were all dead?" She questioned, "Miss Crawford told me so."

Alice couldn't help but notice the way the man known as Faraday stiffens while looking around frantically, his face paling when he looks between Vas and Sam with a distraught look in his eye. Turning around when she heard a noise, Alice breathed a sigh of relief when she finds Roy Goode standing in front of her, but he appeared downtrodden and less enthusiastic. He doesn't even look her in the eyes before delivering the bad news, "Griffin ain't here."

"What?" Sam had looked away from a panic-stricken Faraday when he hears Roy say this, "You sure?"

"His horse ain't here, either. He must have rode off in the confusion."

Sam's face falls with shock and realization before cursing under his breath, "Dammit, Crawford," he turns back to his own men, now all of them huddled close together, "I saw Matilda ride out a while back during the fight. She must have seen Griffin ride out and went after him."

"Good Lord," Horne mutters, horrified, "Do you think they could have gotten far?"

"It depends on how long ago they went," Roy exclaims while mounting his horse when it came to his call, "But if they're out there, I'll find them."

He takes off without another word and Vas turns back to Red, "Are you not a tracker, _amigo_? Go after Matilda before she does something stupid!"

"Vasquez, no one knows Frank Griffin like Roy Goode does," Goodnight comforts while trying to remember the interaction he had with Roy earlier, all the while Red is picturing what an arrow would look like in Vas' head, "He's dangerous and sadistic. We know nothing about him besides that. If we corner him, he may lash out and hurt Miss Crawford so it might be best if we just wait and let Roy take care--"

His sentence is cut off by a horse racing past him with another rider on his back while following the path Roy took out of town. Chisolm noticed the familiar vest, hat, and then the horse meant to be Jack before calling after the rider, "FARADAY!"

"Dammit, boy," Goodnight muttered. 

~~~~~~~~~

By the time she was up into the hills, Matilda faintly noticed how all the gunfire down below in the town had stopped and she prayed that the silence meant they had won. But it wouldn't exactly be a real victory if Frank Griffin was able to escape. 

She was still hot on his trail, Nessie only racing after Griffin's horse from several feet behind him. Matilda had tried firing her gun up at Frank, but by the time she was in range, the horses were dodging and weaving past each other in the forest and so Griffin easily avoided the gunshots.

"Come on, girl," Matilda muttered to her horse, "Come on!"

Nessie began to gallop faster, despite already panting in exhaustion from such a steep climb. Frank had also realized that his horse was slightly slowing down and he couldn't exactly push the animal any further even if he tried. So as a last resort, Frank took out his gun and blindly aimed behind him while continuing to look ahead. 

Matilda ducks her head at the last second and when the expected shot rings out, she wasn't expecting to fall to the ground with a startled scream. Flying off her horse, Tilda thankfully lands further away instead of getting crushed by hooves. She rolls for a moment before coming to a stop in a pile of fallen leaves, her gun had fallen from her belt and her hat no longer on her head. When the woman recovers from catching her breath and looking around, hair wild and matted with twigs sticking out, she was waiting to see Nessie trot back around to come and get her the moment she realizes her rider is no longer on her back, but Matilda was instead surprised to see that Nessie had fallen down with her and was at least thankful that she wasn't crushed underneath the animal when they fell. Tilda clutches her side when she catches her breath and noticed that Griffin's bullet found a way into her hip, her shirt now coated in blood. Trying to brush it off, she is almost ready to find her gun amongst the dead leaves she had landed in before coming to the conclusion that her horse had not uttered a single sound, not even in distressed.

Blood running cold, Tilda actually takes a moment to look over at her horse, slouched over the ground with her saddle still intact. Eyes widening, Tilda realized that Nessie's large stomach was not moving up or down to breathe.

"NESSIE!!" Matilda screamed while crawling over to her horse, gun forgotten and wound less painful as she reached the horse's neck. Brushing some strands of her groomed mane out of the way, Matilda lets out a strangled sob to see the bullet hole in her horse's neck. The shot was clean and through and it made sense as to why Matilda was even shot after she had ducked behind Nessie's head. Frank Griffin had shot her horse clean through the neck to get to Matilda, the fucking bastard.

"NO!" She screamed over and over, "No no no no no I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry. Nessie, please, I'm sorry just get up I won't do that again I'm so sorry please Nessie!"

She barely breathes through her pleading as her tears fell and drop down into the horse's soft hair. The animal didn't respond, however... her big, dark brown eyes still wide open and staring up at the treetops, blood slowly oozing out of the horse's mouth. Matilda cries and cries, holding her horse's neck while rocking herself hysterically, unable to stand up from the forest floor. Tilda couldn't find it within herself to breathe as she mourns over the loss of a friend she had been able to keep alive for years. They had been through so much, Tilda and her horse. Nessie was originally her ex-husband's farm animal, but Tilda had taken her as her riding companion after his death. She had known no other horse in her life other than Nessie, an animal who had survived all odds including the battle of Rose Creek. And now Matilda had lost her horse as well...

"I didn't mean to shoot such a beautiful creature."

Matilda's sobs slowed as she cautiously looked up. Frank Griffin stood towering over her and her dead horse, his one arm holding onto his pistol while his own live horse grazed nearby after having to circle back here even after such a long run. The old man's face was soft and full of pity, even with a weapon in his hand. He slowly crouched down to her with a pained groan as she noticed the bullet wound in his own abdomen, but he barely wavered as he kept his gun trained on Matilda while gazing down at her horse.

"Such a majestic animal," he fawned over sadly in such a gentle tone of voice, Tilda was almost convinced he had been raised a preacher, "They say when you breathe on the nostrils of a horse, he'll be yours for life. They are loyal beasts, with a faint heart to love you and strong legs to support you. One might believe they are better companions than humans."

He slowly tilts his head to Matilda, who only breathes through her nose as her throat started to ache from crying. Her lips trembled whilst her tears formed clean trails on her filthy cheeks, staining her face. She refused to look at him as he used the very tip of his gun to push back the knotted hair in the woman's face, tucking it behind her ear. She didn't even flinch, motionless and defeated, only staring down at her beloved horse's beaded eyes. 

"A love such as that cannot be broken, as God intended, and I'm sorry for your loss," he offered his condolences, sniffing the air while looking around, his gun still dangerously close to Matilda's face, "I understand, sweet girl. I understand your pain, your loss... I have lost all my sons today, as I'm sure you know. And by the deep and clouded look in your eyes, I can see that you are no stranger to loss of love."

Matilda tries to catch her breath, still unable to look death in the face as Frank slowly stands up with a grunt, taking deep breaths as he sighs, taking a few steps back before getting back up on his horse. Tilda didn't take the opportunity to search for her gun as he had his back turned, instead, she kept staring at Nessie's dead eyes while her whole body and emotions go numb. As Frank steers his horse so that he was towering over Matilda again, he leans down to her, "I know what it is like to love. I know it as much as the Bible describes it."

The color in her eyes changes as the forest suddenly quiets all around her. The emotion that began to build up in her chest reels its nasty head out to be rage while staring down at her dead horse. Slowly, her eyes finally turn upward to meet Griffin's and the old man's horse nearly reels back nervously at the sight of her glare.

Her nose flares, her deep breaths slowly become barely controlled pants as she shakes out through gritted teeth, "...You could _never_."

He rolls his lips and glares at the ground before slowly deciding to cock his gun and point it back at her. She barely flinches at the gun, letting the forest floor ground her as she glared up at the old man as he spoke, "I can save you from this world. All it takes is one shot. I can save you from all this pain and suffering. If there is a God where you're going, tell him who sent you."

A small huff escapes her lips as she flashes an unexpected smile, "I'll tell him that there is a special place in Hell for Frank Griffin."

The air is now stiff as the two humans stare down one another, Matilda smiling softly while the other frowning sadly. Frank looks down at her from the small barrel of his pistol, and when his finger moves to find the trigger, Matilda slowly closed her eyes, feeling the wind on her face stick to her tear tracks. And for a moment, she felt at peace.

A gunshot rang out throughout the whole forest, shaking the ground beneath her. Matilda doesn't open her eyes, believing her time had arrived before she heard what must have been Roy Goode's voice, "Frank! Get back here!"

She hears two sets of hooves gallop away and into the woods, only opening her eyes when she heard another horse behind her. The scene in front of her is just endless trees with no Roy Goode or Frank Griffin in sight. They were long gone. The horse behind her grunts as someone dismounts from the animal, and so Matilda could finally conclude her death was real when she heard a voice.

_"Tilly!"_

Her ears ring in delight at the familiar voice and nickname as a strong person falls to their knees and rams themselves against her, nearly forcing her to stumble back into their arms. By the time their rough hands cups her face to make her look at them, she was already shaking from the adrenaline wearing off. When Matilda finally meets a pair of soft green eyes, her emotions melt like snow as a watery smile rises on her lips.

"Maybe death isn't so bad after all," she told him with a cracked voice.

Faraday's eyebrows furrow in confusion but regardless, he smiles, wide and proud. Letting go of her face, he wraps Matilda up and crushes her in a hug, breathing in a sigh of relief, "You're not dead, darling. You're alive. You're alright."

Feeling his actual weight against her, feeling his breath brush her skin as he spoke, feeling his fingers run shapes up her back and just-- just _feeling_ him, Matilda slowly started to come to that same conclusion as well as her eyes began to widen, her heart stopping for several beats in order to catch up with her brain. Keeping her face tucked in his shoulder but moving her head to look down, she could still see the body of Nessie laying by her knees. She was still alive. This is real.

Her brain finally woke up and her heart squeezed painfully in protest. She couldn't control the tears running down her face as she finally reacts by lifting her arms and holding onto her gambler for dear life, " _Faraday_ \--" she croaks as a sob ran out of her mouth.

He holds onto her as she rides out her sobs, her body uncontrollably shaking with her cries as she clung onto everything she could reach. His shirt, his hair, his collar, his arms, his shoulders, almost as if she was checking for wounds or a translucent appendage that might clue her in that this was just a dream. He gently rocks her in small motions until she pulls away far enough to evaluate his face. She doesn't recognize a few of the new scars on his skin and gently traces the one that left a bald spot in his scruff along his jawline with her fingers. If that wasn't a dead giveaway that they were both, in fact, alive, she didn't know what was.

"Thank God," she whispered shakily, "Thank _God_..."

He laughs under his breath, eyes squinting from how wide his smile pushed back the muscles in his face. He gently pulls a twig from out of her hair and felt a burst of energy course through him, feeling like himself again after months of being bedridden and hostile, "Now, the last time I saw you... if I remembered something correctly, you said if I come back alive we can talk about that kiss for good luck."

The laugh that erupts from her lips sounded like church bells in celebration, shaking her head as the joyous tears continued to run down her face, "Joshua Faraday, you have quite the nerve."

He laughs again and moves his hands down to rest on her hips if they were just going to sit on the forest floor for a while, but when his hand moved down, he felt something wet around her vest and the sudden smile vanishes from her face as she winces, "Ow ow ow."

"Shit," he muttered as she leans further into him with a pained hiss when he drew his hand back and found blood, his own running cold in his veins. Looking down, he noticed the bullet wound in her side and felt his stomach flip, "Are you alright?"

Matilda smiles back weakly and tries forming a mocking tone, "So far, so good."

He couldn't help it, he laughed again and slowly moved to help her up, "We should get you back into town and find you a doctor. Roy can handle Frank Griffin."

Remembering that she was actually alive and still technically in the middle of a gunfight, Matilda's eyes harden for a moment as she turned back to the dead horse lying next to her. Carefully, she leans down and plants a small kiss on Nessie's neck, feeling a single tear run down her face again. Faraday rubs a hand over her back in comfort before she nodded to indicate they could leave. Faraday helps her stand up then sweeps her up in his arms to carry her over to his horse. When he gets her up on the saddle he goes back to her horse's body to collect some of her essentials, such as her gun and hat. Walking back over to her, Faraday watches as Matilda runs her fingers through Jack's mane with a broken look in her eyes. He stands next to Jack and pats Tilda's leg gently, "Do you want us to come back for her later?"

The woman thinks about the children of La Belle seeing her Nessie this way and just shakes her head in response, "Wolves need to eat, too."

It may have sounded cruel, but it was true and Faraday understood that. He nods before getting up on his horse behind her, wrapping his arms carefully around her and taking the reins. Jack starts off slowly down the path and Matilda sighs in exhaustion, leaning back into Faraday's chest to feel his heartbeat against her back and his chin on top of her head. The thought that he's alive comes back to her again and she lets the happy tears stream down her face. She's been through enough and so she knew she could have this moment even if it were just this once. She deserved that much. 

With the slow pace of the horse beneath her, a warm body behind her and the afternoon sun slowly starting to turn gold and crack through the green leaves above her, Matilda felt as though there would be no greater heaven than this even if she were dead. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she could sleep in peace just as her eyes started to grow heavy.

Faraday felt her breathing slow down from feeling the expansion of her back rise and fall against his chest. He tucks his chin in and kisses the top of her head, closing his eyes as he breathes in the scent of her hair, "Don't go to sleep yet, Tilda. I'd feel much better if you did that after seeing a doctor."

"The wound's not life-threatening," she counters while blinking her eyes rapidly to keep them open.

"It definitely won't be if you see a doctor. Besides, I'm sure the boys would like to see you before you're whisked away into recovery."

She tilts her head up to scrunch her eyebrows up at him, "Vas and the others see me all the time."

"I wasn't talking about Vas, Sam, or Red, darling," he grinned.

Matilda's eyes widen as a hopeful look spreads across her dirty face, "You mean... Goody?"

He smiles and nods, "Goody."

"Horne?"

"Horne."

"Billy?"

"Of course!"

"How the--?" Matilda looks as though she was close to bursting out fireworks as the happy tears keep coming back, "How in the hell did you all survive? I saw... I saw Goodnight fall off a steeple. I saw-- I saw you get blown up."

Faraday hushes her when she thought back to Rose Creek and shook his head, "We can all sit down. Talk 'bout it later. We don't have to ruin the mood just yet."

"Asshole," she muttered, but she was smiling regardless.

"Yep, that's me," he entertained with a teasing smile, "What? You didn't actually miss me, did ya, Tilly?"

She smiles sadly, reaching up to scratch some of the scruffs on his neck while staring up at him with almost a glassed-over look, "You have no idea."

He might have some idea.

The small trek back to the town continued like this as they heard a small gunshot in the distance. They looked at one another with a grave look but didn't dote on it. Whether that shot was meant for Frank Griffin or Roy Goode, it didn't matter. No one has ever considered Frank Griffin a threat when he was alone. Without his men, he wouldn't last a week even if he had survived today.

Tilda found herself eventually playing with a button on his shirt to pass the time, "How did you find us?"

"I told ya we can talk about it later."

"I'm trying to stay awake here."

He scoffs as a way of surrendering while recollecting some parts of his adventure to get here, "You had made a friend in Amador City, that's where we went first since we knew about the bounty Sam had won. The new bartender, Lizzie Michaels, you remember?" She nods in response and he continued, "Well, as it turns out, she has a sister here in La Belle and told us about the situation here. We had no doubt in our minds you and Sam would want to come here to help out."

Matilda remembers Sam for a moment and bows her head shamefully, "Sam wanted to head back to Amador City. He had a gut feeling that we should go back, but I didn't listen to him. We could have found you a lot faster. But I told him there was nothing back there for us."

"It's alright, Tilly. You didn't know."

She snorts, "I know I said I missed you, but the whole _'Tilly'_ thing is still annoying as Hell."

"Well, tough. You're going to be hearing about it for a long time."

Matilda's body stiffens and she looks up at him with a hopeful look in her eye, "So... you're staying with us?"

He tugs the reins until Jack comes to a complete stop then Faraday looks her dead in the eyes with the most sincere expression he could muster, almost to the point where Tilda could hardly recognize the usual trickster in him.

"I go wherever _you_ go."

~~~~~~~~~

Vasquez is the first to spot them as he sees them appear as a dot in the distance. He whistles the others over to him, Horne being the first to stand right next to him and mutters, "Thank you, Lord."

Sam sighs in relief and pats Goody's shoulder as the dot slowly turns into a single horse and two humans on its back. When the horse gets closer, Vas realizes its Jack and feels his heart sink. When Jack stops only a few yards away, Faraday gets off the horse first before helping a tired and wounded Matilda get down. She slides down almost effortlessly into his arms before he places her down on her feet, all the while Vas was wondering when did she get shot in the hip and where was her horse. 

Faraday has a firm grip on her elbow while helping her keep steady as she walks, and is patient with her when she finally looked up to see another six pairs of eyes watching her. When she recognized three other men she had long thought to be dead were standing among her usual companions, the smile she graces them with is one Vasquez thought to be long gone and barely remembered how it looked. Faraday lets go of her when she made a motion to run and all but nearly collapsed into Billy's arms as he was the first to reach out to her. She sobs quietly in his shoulder as he holds onto her, neither saying a word even as Matilda grabs Goodnight's shoulder to drag him into the embrace. The three of them hold each other like this for a few minutes until Tilda pulls away to wipe her tears and move onto Horne, having to reach up in order to hug him. After reuniting with her formerly fallen friends, she moves onto her usual acquainted ones and lets Vasquez elope his arms around her.

"Jesus, Matilda," Vas whispered, " _No vuelvas a asustarme así_."

"Okay," she hums tiredly without a fight before gripping Red's hand as their respected embrace then moving on to hug Sam.

"Dammit, Crawford," he muttered with a sigh, "Next time I tell you not to do something, just don't do it."

"Clearly I'm fine," she grinned lopsidedly, "So no harm came to it."

"Clearly," he deadpanned sarcastically while proving a point by poking her side wound, causing her to hiss and grab at her hip with an added glare to him, "Now let's find you a doctor."

"Bring her to my farm," Alice Fletcher stepped up, still holding her rifle, "The town doesn't have a doctor. Iyovi can heal her better than any normal doctor anyways."

"Faraday, take her," Sam nods to Matilda.

The gambler was already moving towards the woman before Sam even asked, but he scoffed at the warrant officer anyway while flashing a grin towards Goodnight, "One day back and he's already ordering us around."

"I wonder who died and made him the boss," Goodnight grins in response, earning an appalled and betrayed look from Chisolm that was unlike his usual character.

The group finds each other laughing and even Tilda chuckles, regretting it almost instantly, however, when her bullet wound ached in protest. Wincing in pain, she doesn't deny relaxing when Faraday came over to lift her up in his arms again and looking over at Alice with a pointed look, "Lead the way."

Alice nods and goes to fetch her horse. Vas walks towards Faraday in her place and helps him with Matilda by holding onto Jack while the two mount onto the horse. Once Faraday has taken the reins from him, Vas eyes Matilda with a dejected expression, "Nessie...?"

Matilda bites her lip and looks away, Vas looking to Faraday for an answer and so the Irishman just shakes his head before pushing Jack into a trot when he noticed Alice emerge from the stables with a horse.

"Red Harvest," Sam looks over to the archer, "Go with them."

Red nods and whistles for his own mare, jumping onto her bareback when she appeared and followed Faraday and Alice out of town. Sam looks to the others, sharing an expression with Vasquez before turning to Goodnight, Billy, and Horne, "Even though we would love to celebrate your lives and return, this town is probably not too keen on the idea since they lost loved ones of their own."

"Another time then," Goodnight smiles tightly in understanding, "But for now, we help them rebuild."

~~~~~~~~~

Alice noticed Roy's black stallion grazing outside of her house before anything else. Her heart skips a beat, even more, when she noticed her son sitting by himself on her porch. Not even stopping her horse, Alice jumps off her back and picks up her skirts, walking quickly towards her child.

"Truckee..." she calls out and he comes running, sprinting at her at full speed and crushing her lungs when he hugged her. Alice sighed in relief as she coddles the back of his head against her, inspecting the dirty tear tracks and specks of blood on his face, "What happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm okay," her boy responds, "Grandma is taking care of Roy. He killed Frank but got shot again."

"Okay," Alice breathes for a moment and holds him even closer to kiss the top of his head, "Okay. Miss Crawford is also hurt and could use some help. Take care of the horses while we bring her inside."

"Yes, Ma," he replies before moving over and taking her horse's reins, leading her to the stables while Faraday and Red Harvest approached on their horses. Truckee waves them over and Alice helps Faraday get Matilda down from Jack. When the humans dismount, Truckee takes the rest of their horses. 

"Glad to see your boy is alright," Matilda comments while using Alice as a support to lean half of her weight into.

"He's just lucky I'm not in the mood to wallop him," Alice replies with no real fire behind her words as Faraday came over to help Alice walk Matilda into the house. They hear a pained scream from within the barn and Matilda sends a pleading look in Alice's direction, 

"Just promise me that Iyovi ain't gonna do whatever she's doing to that poor man to me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Someone please make fanart of Faraday and Matilda from that moment when they're on horseback riding back into town. This moment: 
> 
> He nods before getting up on his horse behind her, wrapping his arms carefully around her and taking the reins. Jack starts off slowly down the path and Matilda sighs in exhaustion, leaning back into Faraday's chest to feel his heartbeat against her back and his chin on top of her head. The thought that he's alive comes back to her again and she lets the happy tears stream down her face. She's been through enough and so she knew she could have this moment even if it were just this once. She deserved that much.
> 
> With the slow pace of the horse beneath her, a warm body behind her and the afternoon sun slowly starting to turn gold and crack through the green leaves above her, Matilda felt as though there would be no greater heaven than this even if she were dead. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she could sleep in peace just as her eyes started to grow heavy.
> 
> Faraday felt her breathing slow down from feeling the expansion of her back rise and fall against his chest. He tucks his chin in and kisses the top of her head, closing his eyes as he breathes in the scent of her hair, "Don't go to sleep yet, Tilda. I'd feel much better if you did that after seeing a doctor."
> 
> A/N: I am dead serious because I have so many feels right now. Please and thank you!


	16. Chapter 16

When Matilda first woke up, she was still in Alice's house. She watched the patterns in the woodwork of the ceiling for some time before she decided to move. She barely could work herself into sitting up before grasping her side and groaning in pain. 

"Easy, Miss Crawford," a hand came to steady her by the shoulder once she was sitting up on the edge of the bed and her feet were planted on the ground. She gradually checks her side where the bullet wound should be and feels the bandage. Looking up to see who was at her bedside, her smile was hesitant and eyes darting up and down the figure in disbelief. 

"Goody."

"Hello, Matilda," Robicheaux smiled softly while sitting back down in his chair, "It's been a while. Welcome back to the land of the living."

"So..." she bites her lip, trying to force down the hope rising in her chest, "So I... wasn't dreaming? That was all real?"

"Which part?" He quirks his eyebrow with interest while folding his arms and legs.

"I know for sure I'm in La Belle... but during the battle, I raced after Frank Griffin. Nessie--" she bites her lip harder, a strong part of her praying that part wasn't real and it was just a cruel dream, "And Faraday... the rest of you... I could've easily hit my head and blacked out, could I? I could still be dreaming, or in another case, dead."

"You seem alright with that," Goodnight sighs while untangling his limbs and goes to lean on his knees, "You seem alright with the fact that you could be dead."

"Death wouldn't be so bad if you're here," she winks to try and lighten the mood and succeeds for however long as Goody snorts in amusement.

"Well, then I'm sorry to disappoint you, my dear, but you're not dead. That was all real. I'm real. What happened was that you got shot and Red and some elder woman healed you up in a nice and quick but painful procedure. You screamed and the whole house nearly fell to the ground. By the time we got out here to the farm to see how you were doing, a few of us had to hold Faraday back from picking a fight somewhere he shouldn't. He was yelling something about damn Red setting you on fire?" 

Matilda snorts, "Don't ask," while also looking around before giving Goody a questionable look, "Then Nessie...?"

Goody shakes his head, "That was real... I'm sorry, Matilda."

She sucks in a sharp breath, wincing slightly as her lungs expanded. She must have bruised a rib as well as she tries taking more smaller breaths while trying to distract herself from her pain and grief, "How are you alive?"

"Faraday said he'd tell you."

"He's not exactly here right now," Tilda tried ignoring the pain in her chest as she said it, "You are. And you're a much better story-teller."

Goody snorts again, "You have technically only known me for two weeks before the Rose Creek battle."

"Doesn't matter. I mourned over the loss of men I felt as though I knew for years. Forgive me if I'm curious to know why it had been for nothing."

He eyes her cautiously, and Matilda decided that she hated that look as it was one of pity or perhaps worry. Goodnight looked at her like someone would a glass vase if a child accidentally bumped it and it was slowly rolling off the table. She inwardly decided to never mention what she was like when her friends were gone again.

"I'll try to tell you as much as I can remember," Goodnight starts off slowly after some moments of silence, stretching over his chair, "And I suppose it'll keep you company anyway, since I was instructed that if you were to wake, I was to keep you on that bed."

"Why, Goodnight Robicheaux, you might have to ask my father permission first," she joked dryly that earned her the rolling eyes.

"I remember waking up with some broken bones and several bullet wounds. And while it only took the three of us to heal within weeks, it took Faraday nearly two months. It was just as painful for all of us to watch him like that if not more than him. He was definitely a splinter for my thumb that's for sure."

Matilda snorts loudly, even putting her hand over her mouth to cover the noise and Goody smiles, "The minute he was cleared for riding, we had packed up and left Rose Creek. We went to Amador City first, as I'm sure Faraday has told you. Lizzie Michaels told us about her run-in with you along with the acquaintance you made with an old friend of Faraday's. Two-Gun Kid?"

Her face had deepened into a dark frown, "We are _not_ talking about that."

"Fair enough," Goody nods, having almost agreed too fast to that statement. He clearly didn't intend on talking about it either as Matilda watch his face shrivel up with a concerned look, "Matilda... earlier you didn't appear at all surprised if you actually were dead. Are you alright?"

"I got shot," she scrunches her eyebrows together in confusion, "Why would I be alright?"

"That's not what I meant," the older man sighs, leaning forward to eye her more closely as he mutters, "Matilda... I might be one of the very few people who understand what's it's like to wish for death over life," her face falls with such a pale expression, he quickly adds on, "And you know me... I'm always open to talk. Whenever you like."

She eyes him suspiciously, something distant in her memory returning at his words, "You may be quite the conversationalist, Goodnight... but the last time I saw you before all Hell broke loose in Rose Creek, you didn't seem fit to talk when you took your horse and ran."

Goody knew she didn't mean anything by it, despite how low of a blow it was. She had made her point clear and he lowers his head after putting his hat back on to hide his face from her, "That might have been the quietest moment of my life, yes."

"So what made you come back?"

"A whole bunch of things, I suppose," he admits, thinking back to one of the lowest moments of his life, "By the time the sun had risen that fateful day, I had the mindset of returning to my family home in New Orleans. Lord knows I hadn't been there since before the war and maybe I thought it was time to be reunited with the memories of a young man who didn't know the horrors of war before he had left home. The thought of it was really nice, to be sure, but then I saw Bogue and his men ride past my hidden campsite. I watched them carefully and counted their firepower and artillery. As I suspected, the odds didn't look good for Sam and you lot. Trailing behind those two hundred men was a single wagon with half a dozen Blackstones guarding it. I didn't need to take a peek under that tarp to know what was underneath.

"I knew it had to be a Gatling gun," he shivered, "Even though I had hoped it was just a cannon or maybe some barrels of food for the horses and men, I knew deep down I was lying to myself. I knew what kind of destruction that weapon can leave behind. I saw it once or twice myself back in the war. I've seen a Gat blow up a man's head. I've seen... I've seen entire limbs fall off of men's bodies. And when I thought what Bogue's Gat could do to the good people of Rose Creek... to you and the others... to Billy..."

Goody had to catch his breath and shivered, thankful for Matilda who had the patience of a saint when she was willing to wait. After his breathing returned to normal and his heart had slowed, he cleared his throat, "I knew then what I know now. That if I were to ever leave you lot again, I'd be hanging myself for all my sins. For leaving behind such a wonderful group of remarkable people to die. If I ever did that again, then I was no better than Bartholomew Bogue."

He goes to stand up and Matilda's heart panics, "You're not leaving...?"

"Hardly, my dear," he smiles, even though it was weary from his grave story-telling, "I'll just be going outside to let the others know you're awake. Meanwhile, I suggest you change out of those bloody clothes before you give half of our group a fright. Miss Fletcher has laid out something for you."

He points to a dress sitting towards the edge of the bed and then walks out of the house, lowering his hat around his eyes even further. Matilda takes a deep breath to try and calm her nerves. Slowly standing up, she grips her side to try to keep it from aching through her movements. While undressing, she noticed that the bullet wound had already closed up due to Iyovi and Red shoving gun powder into the injury and then lighting it on fire. Despite how effective the method is, Tilda would like to have a firm talk with her archer friend with how much that fucking hurt. Shrugging out of her clothes and carefully slipping into one of Alice's grey and lilac dresses, Matilda finds it difficult to tie up the back without stressing her new stitches and she'd be damned if she wanted to put a corset on over that. Struggling to get the strings with her arms twisting behind her, Matilda was ready to give up and call for Alice when she felt a presence behind her, nearly driving her to stiffen and even eye her guns resting on the bedpost nearby. Thankfully, she decides not to react when she felt fingers working along the seam of her dress, tying the fabric together while working up her spine. Feeling the heat of someone's chest behind her and closeness of their hands reminded her of a time back in Rose Creek. She remembered a time where she was polishing rifles and handing them out to the townsfolk. She remembered that familiar presence walking up behind her and felt those same fingers brush past her waist.

"You know, I used to find myself good at _untying_ these things," Faraday mused while finishing the ties of her dress once it reached the back of her neck, "Never thought I'd be doing the exact opposite."

When she turned around, she's met with those green eyes again and a feeling of relief washes over her knowing that she wasn't dreaming. The joke must have fallen flat on his tongue because Faraday wasn't smiling to it like he normally would. His sunken eyes looked heavy while staring down at Matilda and without breathing a word, she rose up to wrap her arms around his neck. He had kissed the scar on her temple that she earned in Rose Creek before burying his head into her neck, being more gentle as he wrapped his arms around her torso.

"How long was I out?" She asked in his shoulder.

"Goody would have said that you were only out for the night."

"You don't agree?"

"Hardly."

"How long did _you_ think I was out?"

He tries not to hold her any tighter, "Too long."

~~~~~~~~~

In the next few days that followed, Matilda had spent most of the mornings and afternoons healing up and resting but has been able to convince a certain someone currently wrapped around her finger to let her walk around every once in a while. Faraday sticks to her side like glue, while the other members of their group take turns accompanying them. The gambler, of course, volunteered to stay behind with Matilda even when all the others rode to Blackdom to bury the rest of Louise and her brother's family for their sake. By the time Whitey Winn's funeral came around, Matilda was sporting a temporary limp but was otherwise fully healed thanks to Iyovi and Red's methods.

"Whitey Winn was a sweet soul," Sheriff Bill McNue talked over the hot wind while staring down at the grave below him, both of his children holding his hands on either side of him, "Not all that bright, but he was brave. He's with his ma and pa now, which, I suppose, is what he always wanted. He was a... He was a--" he stutters, trying to find the right thing to say but came up empty, looking up across the grave to meet his eyes with his sister's, "Maggie, you knew the boy best. Maybe you ought to say a few words."

Matilda had looked up after having herself and her own men respectfully keep their heads down once she heard Mary Agnes uncontrollably sobbing. Unable to catch her breath, the usual tough woman was for once, powerless to speak her mind or let her heart out. When no words escaped the female McNue, another voice spoke up.

"Perhaps I might say a word or two."

Everyone turns their heads when a weary young man, sharply dressed but set as though he had come from miles away stepped up to the grave, bowing his head respectfully to those he had passed by.

"And who might you be?" the Sheriff questions in a broken voice.

"Pastor Garrett Moore."

Sadie Rose and her baby boy, Luke, stood nearby as the once hopeful young woman almost looked betrayed by this introduction, her small pink nose and eyes running, "You're too late."

He turns to her, sad and ashamed but all the same comforting and soft, "I do hope not,"

As Mary Agnes turns to leave, slowly walking away, the Pastor takes out his booklet and flips the pages until he finds what he was looking for, reciting the words he had previously written, " _'Tis a fearful thing, to love what death can touch,_ " Mary Agnes pauses in her steps while closely listening to the words, " _A fearful thing to love, to hope, to dream, to be. To be, and, oh, to lose. A thing for fools, this. And a holy thing. A holy thing to love. For your life has lived in me. Your laugh once lifted me. Your word was gift to me. To remember this brings painful joy. 'Tis a human thing, love. A holy thing, to love what death has touched._ "

Mary Agnes turns back to lock eyes with the Pastor, who in turn nods respectfully and knowingly towards her. She feels her lips tremble again before keeping herself together and walks away completely this time, Matilda watching her take each step with a painful expression. As Pastor Garrett Moore continues on with the sermon, others began to memorize and recite the words with him, " _'Tis a fearful thing, to love what death can touch,_ " Matilda finds herself tracing along the vein on the inside of Faraday's wrist ever so slightly as he stood beside her, the gambler not paying it much attention as he lets the funeral continue without a hitch.

" _A fearful thing to love, to hope, to dream, to be. To be, and, oh, to lose,_ " Matilda looks down along the line of her group to commit each of their faces to memory, especially Faraday's, Goodnight's, Billy's, and Horne's, seeing as though she has rarely spent any time with them outside of Rose Creek compared to her other companions. Their faces scarred and battle-worn may look intimidating to others, but to Matilda, it was only blinding proof that they were alive and back where they belong amongst each other. 

" _A thing for fools, this. And a holy thing. A holy thing to love. For your life has lived in me,_ " Matilda thought of how she had stepped into Goodnight's shoes the day of the battle for La Belle, shaking at the mere sound of a gunshot. She thought of how Billy's knife always made her feel powerful and protected whenever she needed that courage the most, " _Your laugh once lifted me,_ " she thought of Faraday's laugh, how it always brought her to smile or at the very least make her feel whole again, " _Your word was gift to me,_ " she thought of Horne's constructive criticism and lovely preachings that shook her to the core, driving her to hold onto and remember every single word, " _To remember this brings painful joy._ "

It _was_ , indeed, a painful joy to remember the small things about her once fallen friends that made them special, not only to Sam and the others but to _her_ as well. Painful because she thought they were dead, gone from her life too soon as they had just entered it, but joy, nonetheless, because she always thought of them when she was at her worst.

" _'Tis a human thing, love. A holy thing, to love what death has touched._ "

Death may have touched her boys, but love had brought them back. She was still trying to grasp the fact they were alive and here with her, Sam, Vas, and Red. They were all together again. They were going to be okay from now on.

After the funeral, the townspeople slowly streamed out the cemetery after saying long and heartfelt goodbyes to their fallen loved ones. Nearly almost a couple a dozen graves were dug up for the fallen, both in men but mostly women alike. After exiting the graveyard, Sarah Doyle and Bill McNue's daughter, Trudy, Matilda thinks she remembers hearing, each takes one of her hands in theirs and led her off in the opposite direction of the hotel.

"What is this?" She asks.

"Come with us," Sarah gently commanded while Charlotte Temple limped beside her friend with her walking cane after having been shot in the leg.

"We have something for you," she adds.

Trudy lets go of Matilda's hand and ran ahead with the other children, the mood around the town beginning to lighten the closer they got to their destination as the children began to laugh. Matilda looked over her shoulder to share her confused expression with Faraday but he only grins softly in response, not having to say anything for her to already know that he was aware of this happening. One look at the rest of her group and she observed the same thing as they were all looking at her expectedly. They followed behind her as the women of La Belle crowd around and lead Matilda to the stables. She hasn't been back here since the battle as there was no need for her to, only reminding her of the great friend she had lost.

Once they all walked inside the gate, Roy Goode emerged while gently leading a horse out of the barn by the reins. He, Mary Agnes, Alice Fletcher, and Truckee all stood together and waited for Matilda to approach, forcing her to let go of Sarah's hand once her own palms began to sweat.

Matilda tried hiding her nerves by grinning to Roy, "Heading out soon?"

"I still have a little bit of time to recover before I can travel again," he informs with a small smile, "Besides... still got one last animal to break down."

He says this while petting the neck of the horse he had brought out and Matilda's eyes darts over to the beast, her smile trembled but she gained control of it, "Who is this?"

"This is Ranger," Roy introduces her to the animal, his smile widening further, "Your new horse."

Matilda's eyes widened, taking several moments to let the news sink into her skin until it reaches her heart. She looks between the horse, Ranger, then back to Roy. Eventually, she looks over at Alice for confirmation.

"Mine...?"

Alice nodded with the widest smile Matilda had ever seen on the woman, "Yours."

Matilda could feel her legs grow weak while turning her attention back to the horse. Finding herself unable to walk forward in case she collapses into jelly, Roy slowly leads the beast over to her until they were only a couple of feet apart. He takes her hand when she wasn't responsive and gives her the reins to the horse, the animal nickers in response to being given away. Finally, Tilda reacts to the gift, slowly reaching her free hand up to the clearly frightened animal, who flinches his muzzle away when he saw her hand drawing near. Matilda only pulled back slightly before moving even slower to touch his snout, shushing the animal softly with soothing words, her breath dancing softly over his face. He was fully brown with the exception of his nose. There was a single white diamond right in between his nostrils but moving further up his snout and onto his forehead was a long, white stripe that almost looked to be in the shape of a waterfall. He was probably skinny compared to most horses and while observing the rest of his body, Tilda couldn't help but notice the deep scars, scabs, dried blood, and bruises on either side of his stomach.

"You poor thing," she whispered gently to the animal while looking him in the eyes, "Damn them to Hell whoever did this to you."

"Don't worry. We took care of him," Mary Agnes grinned while moving her hips in an authoritative stance, "Ed Logan and the rest of Valentine's men won't ever fully feel like prideful men again."

Roy nods in agreement but continued to gently explain himself to Matilda, "Figured we can give this poor beast to someone who will love and offer their trust to him. Someone who knows how to ride better than anyone else I've ever seen."

Matilda looks away to keep an eye on her new friend, now close enough to brush his long neck instead of just his nose. She was close enough to even hug his neck if she wanted to but instead reverted to only sticking close to him to feel his body heat. She recalled all the stunts she used to do with Nessie, jumping over obstacles and shooting off her back to train the people of Rose Creek. And even though Tilda wasn't sure she would be able to ride like that again with any other horse, she knew she couldn't let Roy or Ranger down by not riding him.

"Ranger, huh?" She asked Roy, who nodded and so she looked back at the horse, "Well then, I promise he'll be in good hands from now on."

"I know he will, and I'll be sure to help you break and train him for a little bit before I leave, but the rest will be up to you," Roy stands closer to run a hand down Ranger's long back, "Now, he may be skittish for a little while, but he'll come out of his shell and prove himself to you when he's ready. Until then, just keep practicing with him."

"But why me?" She asks.

"Cause you don't have a horse."

"And it was the least we could do," Charlotte explained from the stables' fence, "After everything you've done for us."

Mary Agnes nodded in agreement while folding her arms, continuing to watch Matilda repeatedly pet the horse until it was used to her touch. She still looked unsure of herself, and she appeared troubled until Mister Chisolm spoke up.

"Crawford," Tilda turned to see her boss on the other side of the fence, watching her along with the rest of her group, "We ain't leaving town until you've gotten Ranger to trust you. That's a promise."

"And a little bit of a threat," Faraday grinned, "No pressure, but let's not stick around for too long, eh?"

~~~~~~~~~

They made that promise several weeks ago, and have not left La Belle, New Mexico since. Before Roy Goode left, as promised, he helped Matilda break her new horse so that Ranger would trust her to be his rider now. After earning the horse, she and Roy would spend another few days with Ranger in the stables, working with him and trying to heal both physical and mental wounds on both man and beast alike.

And every day, Faraday would be standing right outside the stables to watch. It's not like he doesn't do anything else around here. He does catch up with Vasquez and he does tell Chisolm his side of the story of what happened after Rose Creek, but he does all that while watching Matilda bond with her new horse. He doesn't move from there unless Matilda leaves, and if anyone ever needed him, they always knew where to look since they rarely see him elsewhere.

Eventually, Roy did leave. He takes Alice's horse and rides off to California, leaving Matilda alone with Ranger. Faraday had to admit that he was relieved to see the outlaw go. He should feel ashamed to think that Roy and Matilda had gotten close over their love of animals, but he wasn't. Faraday had spent many months trying to get back to her, and he'd be damned if he loses her to someone else.

Then again, he knows he doesn't own her as he watches Tilda ride circles around the small fenced-off area of the stables on top of Ranger. She was laughing openly when her hat flew off at the speed they were going, letting her hair run wildly behind her and looking freer than any bird Faraday had ever seen. He rarely hears that laugh and when he does, he remembers every moment when it happens.

Recently, he heard that laugh as the two of them along with Vasquez were sharing smokes and cards out on the porch of the hotel one night. The look on Faraday's face when he realized that Matilda now knew Spanish made her gut hurt so much from laughing. Vas also hooted and hollered by how pale Joshua has gotten.

He hears that laugh a second time in the weeks they stayed in La Belle while Matilda was showing off all of her new knife work to Billy. Showing him her tricks with the knife he had given her, Billy himself was so out of character to the point where he was grinning uncontrollably.

"You've improved."

She had grinned, "Think I can take you on yet?"

"I said improved, not better."

Billy had even laughed with her at that time.

Today's laugh was no different as Matilda is playfully being chased by Ranger, who nipped at her heels when she ran from him and whinnied like a child. One of Ranger's hooves accidentally steps on Matilda's skirt and she falls in the dirt, laughing despite the new scraps she earned on her hands when she landed. One of the first things Faraday noticed about her after being reunited with Matilda is that she no longer wears skirts over her pants. She had given up on skirts entirely and exchanged them for just trousers, a shirt, and a vest. She had to wear a dress today since her usual clothes were being hung up to dry, the bloodstains having finally been washed out after possibly the sixth attempt, and the bullet hole was sewn up and good as new.

When Faraday had absentmindedly reached down to cover the several bullet holes in his vest, Matilda made a comment about how they should get him a new one, since she clearly didn't like the fact that he was still wearing the same clothes he had gotten himself blown up in.

So there he was, wearing a new brown leather vest and light blue shirt with dark pants, watching Matilda get up from the ground to brush off her dirty, blood-speckled hands onto the dull yellow dress she had to loan from one of the ladies of La Belle. When she looked up to notice him there --and it's not like she hasn't noticed him there the past couple of weeks-- she grins with a questionable eyebrow, "What you staring at all stupid-like?"

" _You_ ," he boldly admits while leaning against the fence but he goes and just _has_ to be himself while playfully adding, "Getting thrown around by a horse. It's hilarious."

"In case you haven't realized the past week or so you've been standing there," she calls him out generously, rolling her eyes, "I have made very good progress with Ranger."

"I have realized that," he chuckles to himself, "I realize a lot of things believe it or not."

"Is that so?" She walks over to stand just in front of him on the other side of the fence, "What kinds of things?"

"I realize that yellow is _not_ your color," he laughs when earning a smack to the head for that, Matilda absentmindedly crossing her arms in front of her as if trying to hide the color of the dress, "I realize that Ranger is probably going to be good friends with Jack. I realize that it's easier to watch you now that Roy Goode is gone--"

He surprises himself with his own observation but doesn't take it back, since he'd be lying if he did, and he's not exactly fond of the idea of lying to Matilda. But instead of getting angry like he expected her to, Tilda keeps her eyebrow pointed and her lips turned up into a sly grin.

"You jealous?" She teases.

"Hey," he sends her a playful, warning look, "He was teaching you how to ride a stallion. As I recall, I tried using that to woo you once. You can't blame me for comparing."

Matilda rolls her eyes, "You said I should meet your stallion, Jack, some time and then continued to say that you weren't talking about your horse. That's _entirely_ different from what Roy was doing, which was _actually_ helping me with my horse."

"But which one would woo you more?" He challenged with a knowing look.

"As of right now, definitely not the comment _you_ made," she fires back with a smirk.

"Oh come on, I thought I was being pretty sly."

"Like a snake," she agreed and even laughed when he groaned in response.

"In my defense, I laid off those kinds of comments later down the road."

The mocking expression relaxes into something softer on her face, and Faraday watches her study him for several moments as she smiled thoughtfully, "I know," she nearly spoke above a whisper as if that was some sort of secret between them.

He smiles back and even though he was trying to be different for her, he can't help but sometimes be himself, "But that Roy Goode--" the moment was ruined and Matilda groans, rolling her eyes again, "He was too nice."

She hums while leaning forward on the fence, her fingers reaching up to mess with the scar on his scruff again. As she's doing this, she wore a lopsided smile that made it appear to look as though she was dreaming. Faraday doesn't deny her and tilts his head off to the side to give her more access.

"You think I'm being funny."

Tilda snorts, "I think you're being hilarious."

He sighs with exaggeration, "When did I get so weak?"

"Don't know," she hums, "Not my fault."

"It most definitely _is_ your fault, Miss Persuasion!"

That laugh returns and Faraday marks it down for the history books.

~~~~~~~~~

One night, everyone is there in the saloon enjoying a glass of whiskey and each other's company. Everyone in town is finally regrouping, resting, and celebrating their victory instead of mourning for their losses.

Chisolm and the others have their only little spot by the bar, but they take part in the festivities. So far, Faraday hasn't seen Matilda join the event yet as she had told him earlier this morning that she was riding out to Alice Fletcher's farm to help fix a few weak spots in her ranch's fence. When Faraday offered to help, she had waved him off with a sly smile,

"As if you haven't had enough of me already," she had said.

He would have protested right on the spot hadn't she quickly slipped away. After that, he hadn't seen her since.

"Gentlemen," a skinny blonde woman approaches their table with a wide smile, "I won't waste much of your time as I had just come to personally thank you for helping protect our town."

"It was our pleasure," Faraday smiled as a way of distracting himself, "Miss...?"

"Dunne. Callie Dunne."

"Sweet Jesus, I nearly forgot!" Goodnight expresses, startling half of his companions and even the grateful woman as he quickly stands up to pat around his being, eventually feeling for something in his coat pocket and retrieving it, "And to think we were about ready to ride out of town any day now with _this_ still in my possession!"

He exposes a piece of parchment from his belongings and leans over the table to hand it to the town's schoolteacher with a wide smile, "That is for you, little lady. From your sister."

"My... sister?" Callie's eyes had widened in disbelief, her hand holding the letter was starting to shake. 

Goodnight nods while sitting back down and explaining himself, "Your sister is a hero. She was the one who told us to come looking for our friends here. If it weren't for her, we might have never tried coming here and who knows what would have happened."

"Wait, Lizzie Michaels?" Faraday questioned, now remembering the new bartender they had come across in Amador City. 

"Oh, that's right. I had nearly forgotten as well," Horne looks over and smiles at Callie, "Bless that woman, your sister. She wrote that for you when we decided we were coming here. She had also told us to tell you--"

"That she'll always love you," Billy finishes, surprising everyone while he only looked at the young woman, "No matter what."

Callie's tears were dripping into her relieved smile, quickly opening the letter to read to herself. After a while, she looked up to share the news, "After she had married, we wrote to each other less and less. At first, I had thought it was because I had done something wrong by loving the wrong person, but..." she was laughing through her tears now as she looked back down at the letter, "But that wasn't the case. What had happened was that she had moved towns and found it harder and harder to write all the time. She's still my sister and she loves me. No matter what. And what's even more wonderful is that she's pregnant and wants me to visit her."

"Congratulations, Miss Dunne," Sam smiled.

"What a surprise!" Goody adds while shaking a finger at Faraday, "Although we can vouch that there's not much to see in Amador City."

"Oh, yeah, it's a complete dump," Faraday ensures while being kicked under the table and watching Vasquez's glare while quickly adding, " _But_ the people are decent once they get to know you."

Callie nods in understanding, looking back down at the letter and continuing to smile, "And she even wants me to bring Maggie so that she could meet her!"

"Who's Maggie?" Horne asked with a curious smile.

As if on cue, Mary Agnes McNue waltzed over, looking at the gentlemen sitting around the table from right over Callie's shoulder, "Heard my name?"

"Maggie," Callie smiled at her with a love-struck stare, "I know where we're going for our vacation."

"Is that so?" Mary quirked an eyebrow and smiled, "Well then, how about to celebrate, you'll humor me to a dance?"

Callie laughed, taking Mary's hand and moving to whisk her away to the dancefloor where many of the women were starting to crowd around and celebrate. Before they could fully disappear into a wave of bodies, however, Mary Agnes called back to Sam and his men over her shoulder.

"Oh! And I think I saw your girl riding back in from the Fletcher farm! Tell my brother that Alice is with her!"

And then they were gone as if they had never been there. Horne hummed while looking back at the boys, "Well, how's that? Not only did we save another town from a horrible fate, we unknowingly brought back together a family."

"All in a day's work," Faraday grinned, raising his glass and his eyebrows.

"Amen," Sam offers with his glass.

"I'll drink to that, _güero_ ,"Vas grins while also lifting up his drink for the others to join. The seven all lift their drinks and salute, tilting their heads back and finishing the liquor up in one gulp. As they continue to watch the celebration, Sheriff McNue decided to walk up to their table.

"Gentlemen," he greets while taking his hat off to keep close to his chest, "I hope you're all enjoying yourselves."

"We are. As should you," Sam nods with a grin.

"Which reminds me," Goodnight adds, "Your sister said something about Alice Fletcher riding into town to join the festivities. Maybe you could escort her in here."

"I think I just might do that," McNue nods with a smile, putting his hat back on and also disappearing through the crowd to get to the exit.

The men chuckle in amusement but it wasn't long until they were joined by the Sheriff again, who had two nicely groomed women under each of his arms. One they recognized to be Alice Fletcher, then the next--

"I believe this one should be escorted by a man she knows."

Matilda laughs at every one of her boys' expressions. There was not a single one in her group who wasn't dismayed by her appearance as even Billy and Red Harvest looked initially shocked by her attire. She wore a sky blue dress that appeared thin and swayed as she walked. It looked free and didn't appear to have any form of corset constricting her waist. Her dirty blonde hair was down some but her overgrown bangs were pulled back to tie behind her head in braids. Tucked in her ear was a matching colored orchid, and oh, did it bring out the color of her eyes. 

Billy McNue and Alice snuck away, either to dance or to spread the news as to how Matilda Crawford, Miss Persuasion herself was able to quiet down seven men with her beauty. Sticking out her chin with such a bold smile on her face, she bore a different aura of confidence no one has ever seen her in. Confidence that was even strong enough to knock Joshua Faraday off his feet as he had nearly stumbled out of his chair at the sight of her.

Her eyes all dart to each of the men, each of them sitting up straighter in attention as if she was a viper ready to attack, "Mister Robicheaux."

"Miss Crawford?" The said sharpshooter dared not keep her waiting with a response, his eyes still wide. 

"Sam once told me you were quite the dancer."

"Oh, he did, did he," Goody glares over at Chisolm, who tries expressing a feigned innocence under his hat when Matilda's spell was broken, "Traitor."

The Angel of Death slowly stood up, still glaring at the bounty hunter even as he reached for Matilda's offered hand as she was not going accept a refusal. As they started to walk away, she turned over her shoulder to the rest of them, grinning, "You're next, Rocks," she doesn't leave an opening for Billy to protest as she darts her eyes to Vasquez, " _Mantén al irlandés sobrio para mí y tal vez no te haga bailar_."

Vasquez barks out in laughter, holding his ribs in pain while trying to speak through tears, " _Creo que ya se puso sobrio al verte_."

She wore an accomplished smile on her face before walking away with Goodnight to the middle of the crowd. It was actually charming to watch the two of them dance together among the rest of the people of La Belle, watching Goodnight twirl Matilda before pulling her back to him, making her laugh when he said something funny. Eventually, she gets Billy to dance with her after quite a bit of prodding from Goody, but they don't dance nearly as long before Rocks is retiring early for the night and heading towards the hotel. Surprisingly, Goodnight is the one following the other that night instead of the other way around. Matilda dances with Horne and expresses her entertainment when Vasquez joins her, but God forbid she'd ask Red Harvest or Sam to dance. She would rather pray for a quick death.

Faraday had watched with barely a drop of alcohol in him since Vas suspiciously only ever poured him a few swallows of liquor throughout the night. It didn't give him a foul mood to be sober, but Faraday did indeed felt different as he watched the townsfolk dance around and for once, he wasn't drunk and celebrating along with them. By the time Matilda returned to the table to fetch him, strands of her hair were out of place and her skin glowed from a healthy sheet of sweat. But even so, she looked more beautiful than Faraday had ever seen her.

Taking the now dying blue orchid out of her hair and tucking it into his vest pocket, Matilda smiled down at him as she stood over his spot at the now empty table as most of their group had either retired for the night or migrated over to socialize with the townspeople around the saloon. 

"So as the world's greatest lover, have you any experience in dancing?"

His grin is lopsided, "I might have use of it a time or two."

"Then use it," she offered her hand to him, wiggling her fingers in anticipation. Faraday huffs a small laugh before taking her hand and letting the woman pull him out of his chair. He keeps his eyes on her the entire time she leads him to the center of the room, reminding Matilda of a time when they were alone together in a saloon back in Rose Creek, with a card game and a couple of drinks between them.

_"Since I might die tomorrow...is it safe to tell you that you are the most beautiful woman I've ever met?"_

_"You kill me."_

She forces her body not to shiver at the thought of that night before Bogue's army came for Rose Creek as Faraday was still wearing the same smitten expression that she almost always sees fixed on her, and it always somehow warms the pit of her stomach. 

"Keep starin' like that and one might think you were after something," she offered a shy smile while ducking her head under his gaze.

"Not somethin'," he clarifies as the piano and violin thrum from an enthusiastic tune down to a slow hum of a melody and the very few couples left in town gather around on the floor to dance altogether, " _Someone_ , maybe."

She smiles to herself as Faraday stepped forward to gently take her arm, settling it on his shoulder while he takes the other in his hand, his now free arm wrapping around her waist. He brings her close to the point where he has his chin resting on the top of her head again as the music brings the pair of them into a slow sway. Glancing around with only her eyes, Matilda sees other couples slowly dancing around her and Faraday such as the Sheriff and Alice. Another pair was Mary Agnes and Callie and then Martha and her detective. There were maybe a couple more women wanting to dance with the only few other surviving men of La Belle but other than that, it was an empty floor. She couldn't help but wonder if that young Whitey Winn would've asked that petite Louise to dance with him if he were still alive. Instead, Matilda could spot that lonely Blackdom girl playing with her fiddle in the corner while softly singing for others to dance to.

It brought Miss Persuasion to think about Amador City again, the morning after Red killed the Two-Gun Kid. Watching Louise tear up as she played and sang her heart out reminded Matilda of a time she sang a sad lullaby after losing someone she cared about. It brought a single tear to trickle down her cheek and it was like Faraday had a sixth sense for it.

"You alright?" He muttered into her hair.

She nods into his vest before looking up at him, "Yes. I'm... I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you're real."

If she noticed the way his arm tightened around her, she didn't mention it as he quietly apologized, eyes lowering to the floor to avoid her gaze, "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here."

She looked away to rest her head against him, "You got here just in time I think."

"Barely... had I been a second later I would have found you dead."

She thought about Frank Griffin's gun in her face, the last thing she saw before closing her eyes and waiting for death, causing her to bury her face further into Faraday's chest, "But you didn't."

He reassures himself by kissing her temple with the scar from Rose Creek, making Tilda wonder if this was going to become a habit of his, "Nah. But I promise I am never going to be so close as to see you hurt like that again. I'm done hurting you."

Matilda scoffs slightly, "You can't hurt me. You don't know how. Not on purpose at least."

"How do you know? Technically, you barely even know me."

"As Goodnight had kindly reminded me before and I kindly reminded him in turn that I mourned over friends I felt like I had known forever," she rolled her eyes, "I had found a family among our batch of strays and I nearly went out of my mind when all that was ripped away from me. If you think I'm going to ever let that happen again, then you're crazier than Vasquez without a meal."

He laughs slightly, bringing her to finally look up at him with a sly smile, "Besides, even if you _did_ hurt me--"

"You'd kill me?" He quirked an eyebrow and grinned almost excitedly.

She winks, "And if I don't, I know six other men who will."

~~~~~~~~~

The music eventually died down as the moon rose even higher in the night sky. Slowly, the townsfolk trickled out of the saloon until barely anyone was there. While the music had stopped, people were talking amongst themselves and simply enjoying each other's company.

Like Chisolm and his team, for example, as the ones who still remained awake were gathered around a single table, most of them exhausted from today's labors of helping rebuild the town and even from when Matilda had forced them to dance with her. The five remaining men and the solitary woman were all laid out in their respective chairs, not caring about decency as their tired legs were either stacked over each other under the table or propped on one another's seats.

Faraday and Matilda sat across from each other, playing cards with ruffled hair and clothes after nearly dancing forever. Tilda's feet were sore but it was a good pain compared to everything else life has dealt them in the past, so she couldn't complain. While playing cards, she was finding it hard to beat Faraday, as usual, until Vasquez set down a drink he had fetched for the gambler from over his shoulder.

" _Tiene una escalera de color_ ," Vasquez muttered to Tilda after he had rounded the table to sit in his respective spot next to the woman again.

" _Gracias querido amigo_ ," she grinned over to Vas before briefly fanning out her cards better to get a closer look.

"Whatever you two are saying, it better be nice," Faraday playfully glared at them from over his own set of cards.

For the next several nights, the people of La Belle had been caught celebrating in the saloon, and the eight heroes had joined them each time. By the end of the night, Sam and his crew always found themselves sitting all together since, after the first night, Goodnight and Billy didn't go to bed early ever again, much more willing to keep themselves entertained with their companions after finding out that Matilda was actually beating Faraday at his own games.

But once they found out how she was doing it, they were much more entertained with how well her Spanish has been coming along.

" _Sospecho que tiene una escalera real. Estoy en lo cierto?_ " She asked Vasquez while peering up to watch him carefully as he stood over Faraday, yet again after grabbing him another drink from the bartender.

" _Si_ ," Vasquez laughs as if trying to play it off as though Matilda had told him a joke instead of an inquiry, handing Faraday his drink before going to sit down by the team's female navigator again. By now, Goodnight was finding it really difficult to keep his laughs to himself, lest Faraday found out why, and Horne was only shaking his head disapprovingly, but otherwise had remained silent. He may be self-righteous, but he's also loyal to Matilda and secretly loves to watch Faraday suffer.

"Seriously, I feel like ya'll are just speaking nonsense to mess with me," Faraday grumbled while glaring at his cards, as any smart gambler would if he were winning at hand while Sam hides his smile behind his drink when he knocked back the glass of whiskey.

" _¿Qué?_ " Matilda hummed while tilting her head at him, smiling sweetly and displaying such a fantastic act of innocence, Goody was nearly sent flying off his seat as he finally released a roaring fit of laughter.

Billy is grinning while Sam is trying to get Goodnight to breathe again, the warrant officer started laughing in response to the Cajun recuperating by coughing, still chuckling in between. By the end of his fit, Matilda had looked over at Faraday to watch the defeated expression stitch over his face to the point where she thought that maybe this teasing had gone on far enough. Sighing, she had set down her cards for everyone to see and leaned back in her chair, knocking back her drink, "I wasn't going to win against your royal flush anyway."

Faraday's eyes widened, setting down his cards for the rest of the men to see the same conclusion as well, "How did you...?" He looked behind him to see if he would find a reflection before turning back, utterly confused until his eyes land on Vasquez. The Mexican was grinning from ear to ear like a cunning coyote, watching the Irishman with expecting eyes.

"Care for another drink, _Güerito?_ "

"Vas, you sonuvabitch!"

Even _Red_ _Harvest_ had no choice but to let a small smirk grace his lips while everyone laughed as Vasquez sprinted out of the building with Faraday right on his tail.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes have decided it's about time they leave La Belle, and onto another adventure.

Even though Faraday thoroughly enjoyed seeing Matilda in a dress, his legs always felt weak when he watched her in an environment she was comfortable with. Wearing her now fully cleaned-of-blood pants, shirt, hat, and vest, the Irishwoman was letting Ranger ride her around the small livery stable again, giving the animal all of her trust as a way of gaining his in return.

Already, Ranger looked much healthier compared to when he was first given to Matilda. Once he was less skittish around her, the young woman would scrub him clean every day until his skin willed itself to heal around his wounds on either side of him. She had fed him quite a bit more apples and bales of hay, too as he definitely looked a lot stronger around the legs. Once she deemed him safe to be around others, she had even let some of the children come around to groom and braid his mane. Hell, Matilda had treated this animal so well that Ranger would no doubt kill for her if it ever came down to that, and Faraday even voiced this to her once.

"If he takes a page out of your own stallion's book, then I'm blaming you," she eyed him with a devilish smirk.

And now, he watched as Ranger began to buck gleefully, Matilda hanging onto the saddle for dear life but smiling nonetheless. She looked over at Faraday and shouted over the horse's scream of excitement, "Open the gate."

Faraday eyed her and the horse carefully, "Are you sure...?"

"Faraday, I will invite you to take Jack out to ride with us if you open that gate this instant!"

The playful grin he returns at the deal is all too pleasing to watch form in Matilda's eyes as her gambler goes to unlock the gate. The second it opens, wide and welcoming, Tilda gently kicks Ranger's newly strong flanks and the beast takes off. Screaming and laughing in delight, the woman and her horse take off down the town's main road, heading for freedom. Joshua quickly reacts by letting out a high-pitched whistle and in response, Jack comes galloping out of the stables. Faraday skillfully waits until the perfect moment to grab hold and swing himself onto the back of his stallion just as Jack ran past him, and soon enough they were racing after Matilda and Ranger. Some of the people of La Belle had to quickly move out of the way as they raced by, others watch from the sidelines in awe at the beautiful scenery. Faraday could faintly hear Red Harvest howling with exhilaration when the Indian noticed that Ranger and Matilda were back on their feet and Goodnight laughed harmoniously while watching the pair ride out of town on their horses from his rocking chair outside the hotel. 

Once they were gone, vanished within seconds from the magic of horsepower, Goodnight settled back down for a smoke while Billy silently sharpens his knives from his spot on the floor of the porch just beside Goody's leg. Before long, Chisolm and Vasquez walked out of the hotel with befuddled expressions.

"What's all that ruckus about?" Sam asked.

Goodnight chuckled, "You missed the show. It appears as though Miss Crawford's new stallion is fully healed and ready to ride. She and Faraday had just raced out of town."

"And Faraday's devil of a horse didn't run anyone over in the confusion?" Chisolm furrowed his eyebrows with concern, "I know you said Teddy Q must have softened the animal up, but I thought you were exaggerating."

"Oh, believe me, Jack did, in fact, drove some of the poor people of La Belle to move out of the way before they met some unfortunate fate, but at least he didn't kill 'em."

Billy snorts without looking up from his knives, "We better be leaving soon before these people decide we're a nuisance."

"Billy has a point," Sam hums, "These women might even drive us out of town if Jack ends up crashing into a child."

"You mean squishing, _jefe_ ," Vas rolled his eyes while Sam narrows his gaze at him.

~~~~~~~~~

As they get out of town, all that can be heard was the gallop of hooves and the wind whipping in their ears. Jack had been able to catch up to Ranger and the two horses run alongside each other, leaping over the tall grass slowly growing out in the fields. Matilda could barely see the horses' legs, they were moving so fast. Her eyes watered in the wind, her hair whipping around and smacking her in the face, but despite all of that the woman had never felt more alive. 

When she turned her head to watch the rider beside her, the heart beating rapidly in her cheat tightened against her adrenaline when she noticed the smile on Faraday's face as his eyes were focused ahead of him. The smile was wide and lacked any snark or arrogance like any grin that would usually grace the man's features. It was wide and shining, with a touch of innocence and wildness that made him look years younger. By the time the two reached the very top of a hill, Matilda wanted nothing more than to wipe that smile off his face using her own special tactic that didn't involve anything that would negatively wipe Faraday's grin from his lips. 

She shouted for him to stop his horse and simultaneously reared back on the reins for Ranger to slow down. By the time she had jumped off her animal, she was confused as to why Faraday and Jack kept going. Rolling her eyes, Matilda figured that Joshua was just trying to show off and she let out a high-pitched whistle of her own, causing Jack to abruptly halt and fling Faraday from his back. The man lets out a distressed yelp before crashing into the grass, and the abrupt laughter expelling from Matilda's lungs suddenly couldn't stop as she had to lean over and clutch her knees to catch her breath. Still trying to regain control of herself, the giddy woman races after her counterpart on foot, leaving Ranger to graze and relax outside of his usual solitary confinement. 

By the time Tilda had reached Faraday, the man had moved to his knees and was glaring up at the woman who was still laughing at him.

"You think you're being funny?" 

She snorts in response, clutching her side with the gun wound slightly to catch her breath, "Didn't ya hear me, stupid?"

Faraday's frown lightens up in confusion, his mind trying to playback if he had heard Matilda tell him to stop Jack, but no memory came of it. Shrugging, he grins while brushing the question and his pants off when he stood, "Must have been caught up with my victory."

"Oh, so you thought we were racing, did you?" She quirked an eyebrow, now both of her hands on her hips in response, "Cause if I had known, I would have placed my bets on _me_ winning."

"As if you could ever win a bet against _me_ , who always bets on the odds," Faraday winks as a way of covering the pained wince he makes while unconsciously grabbing his bad leg, massaging the part where he had been shot back at Rose Creek.

Matilda takes note of this movement but doesn't acknowledge it, knowing that the very same man who likes to bet on the odds also doesn't like his pride being questioned and she waves it off. She's quick with her tongue while responding, "And what odds would you have bet on? An old man and his old horse, against me and my newly trained stallion?"

"Who are you calling old!" He sputters while making a grab for the woman, who laughs out of surprise when he's able to catch her by the waist and drag her down with him when he lets his bad leg give out and crash into the dirt. For a few moments, she tries fighting back and they roll in the dirt until Faraday has her pinned beneath him, his hands gently holding both of her wrists on either side of her head.

Matilda laughs despite her defeat, "You _do_ know that if you were an actual threat, I could knee you in the groin right now?"

"Do it," Faraday challenges, because like he said, he always bets on the odds, "'Cause I really am a threat."

"Uh-huh," Matilda nonchalantly agrees with a roll of her eyes, making it blatantly obvious that she doesn't believe him.

"Oh ho, so you've made today out to be a day to challenge me in everything, is that it?" He curves an eyebrow down at her playfully.

" _Please_. I've been challenging you since the day we met."

His grin slowly lessens into a more sincere smile and oh, that feeling is back in her heart again, squeezing painfully as she stares up at him. He's wearing That Look again, the one she only sees when he's around her. His eyes soft and cheeks warm, practically making his skin glow with the sun behind him, casting a large silhouette over Matilda's smaller frame. The tall grass has covered up most of the sky above them and sheltering them from the heat, blowing softly all around them when the wind picked up like a green tent.

"I do remember thinking that," he finally says.

She frowns curiously, "Thinking what?"

"The day we met. The moment you walked away after telling me that no one has ever been able to call you Tilly or Tilda after the first time they said it," he explains, "I thought to myself _'Challenge Accepted'_."

Matilda feels her face heat up in a way she knows has nothing to do with the weather, and she's grateful for the shade Faraday's shadow provided lest he discovered how hard her Irish descent made her blush. She rolls her lips to keep them moistured after she suddenly felt her mouth dry up like a desert. Swallowing anxiously, she blinks up at the gambler above her and feels her voice give way to her sudden excitement with how close their faces appeared to be.

"Faraday."

"Hmm?"

Her eyes didn't appear to want to focus on just one part of his face, darting between his own eyes and his lips, "I believe I owe you a kiss for good luck."

His eyes widen for a moment before said lips turn up into a wider smile, nodding slightly, "That you do. You cashing it in?"

She laughs under her breath, already appearing breathless from the adrenaline as she reached up to take the hat off of Faraday's head, "I am," she tosses the hat aside and is able to control her shaking nerves by grinning back in response, "My cards are all in."

Faraday laughs full-heartedly at that, his eyes closing and shoulders shaking to the point Matilda thought he might fall on top of her. There's that grin Matilda wants to desperately wipe off again and now's her chance. By the time he gets a hold of himself, he loosens his grip on her hands and so she uses the advantage by wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down.

It took nearly all of his strength to keep himself from crushing her in the initial shock of falling, able to brace himself up with his elbows as their mouths collide in a non-too-graceful kiss. At first, it's all teeth and their noses clash uncomfortably until they do some careful adjusting and learn how to move together. Then, it's all soft touches and slow movements, even though there's still some laughter in between that is immediately silenced in their lips. Whereas their first kiss was full of tension and alcohol and the imminent threat of dying the next morning, now it was relaxed, slow, and sweet that somehow complemented with the smell of fresh grass, moist dirt, wildflowers, and cool winds all around them. Neither of them wanted to break away in fear of the moment ending.

It does end, however, when Faraday yelps into Matilda's mouth in surprise and is pulled away from her. Instead of looking worried, Matilda is rolling around in the dirt again, laughing as she watched Jack nip at Joshua's hair and pull him up with an irritated snort, the back of the man's shirt in his teeth. Faraday tries to bat him away while cursing through the whole situation.

"Damn beast! Ouch! Let go, you stupid brat! Are you jealous or something, ya devil?"

Eventually, Jack lets go but not until Faraday was fully standing and the moment is ruined, huffing in satisfaction while his rider tries brushing back his own mane with his fingers and straightening his clothes. Grumbling still, he's grumpy when Matilda walks up to him and places his hat back on his head to cover up the mess his horse left behind, but even while still irritated, Faraday kisses her scarred temple in gratitude.

She chuckles, "You clearly haven't been giving him much attention."

"He gets damn plenty."

Matilda quirks an eyebrow, "So all those times I've been seeing you in the stables the past several weeks was to see your horse?" She feigns an injured expression while shaking her head, "Why, Mister Faraday, I'm hurt. And here I thought you couldn't get enough of me."

"Woman, what part of _'I go wherever you go'_ did you not understand?" He shoots right back while grabbing at Jack's reigns, the two of them walking alongside the horse to reach Ranger, who was still grazing in the far off distance.

"Not as much as you thought I understood, I'm sure," she rolls her eyes sarcastically, "To what terms does that saying apply to?"

"I'll follow you anywhere and everywhere," he bothers to conjure up a smirk, "Even in your dreams."

"Pity. I was getting rather fond of my dreams, too."

"You and Vas are going to be a real pain in my ass once we start traveling, ain'tcha?" She laughs in response all the while Faraday continues to grumble, "At least teach me some damn Spanish so I could understand what you both are sayin'."

"If we taught you any Spanish, then it wouldn't be as fun anymore," Matilda winked as they finally reached Ranger, the animal barely pausing from his grazing even as his rider hoisted herself on top of him, "Besides, it's not like Vas is teaching me very much. There's still a few chosen words he outright refuses to teach me."

"Only because he doesn't want you using said words against him," Joshua responds while jumping onto Jack's back, shrugging, "Or maybe, he mother hens you that way so you never try at using curses in his language."

"That didn't make no lick of sense," she frowns at him while shaking her head, " _Eres tan estúpido como guapo_."

"Now, see _that_ right there ain't fair!"

"What's not fair is that I'm all the way out here listening to you complainin' while Vas and the others are drinking and enjoying each other's company back in town," Matilda laughs at the mock hurt expression Faraday flashes her and she gently kicks Ranger's flanks, "Come on. I'm hungry and we best hope Vasquez has left us some supper."

He chortles in response and they take off back down the hill and towards La Belle. When they get back to the stables, the sun was just starting to set over the valley. And by the time they get the horses fed and watered, the night had shown up and the two had to make their way to the saloon by the cover of lanterns. Matilda is starting to get used to Faraday being a constant presence, always being right at her heels, the man going as far as to briefly keep his hand hovering over the small of her back as he lets her walk into the saloon first before closely following.

Chisolm is the first to notice them as he and the rest of their group are seated at their usual table while the rest of the saloon is crawling with the lively townsfolk, settling down to enjoy themselves for the evening. The warrant officer eyes them both with a look similar to a doting father, "I completely understand if you two are ready to hit the road, but don't get the rest of us run out of town because you can't control your horse, Faraday."

Faraday tries feigning innocence as he sits in between Vas and Matilda, while Horne pushes over two plates of food to the pair just sitting down, "What did I do now?"

"You could have run over the Sheriff's daughter on your way out of town today," Goody shakes his head while hissing through gritted teeth in sympathy, "If you were hoping to find fast and easy ways to put a warrant on your head, that outta do it."

Vasquez glares at Goodnight from the corner of his eye and Matilda kicks at the Mexican's foot underneath the table to grab his attention, "Oh, hush. You're not a wanted man anymore so we can make a crack out of it."

"You don't say," Goody hums while looking over at Vasquez from across the table, "You a free man now, Vas?"

"Chisolm paid off his warrant back in Amador City," Tilda explained while reaching over to snatch Faraday's newly acquired flask of whiskey from him, all the while eyeing Vasquez, "And I don't remember hearing you thank the man."

"Because you were not there to see it, _Morena_ ," Vas eyes her right back, "You were too busy getting drunk in the saloon."

Faraday stops from trying to take his flask back from the woman to stare at her suspiciously when hearing that. She wisely decides not to look at him while shrugging, "I wasn't that drunk. I was tipsy at best," she defends.

Red looks up from picking at his food, "You couldn't wrestle a gun from that white man's hand."

"It was pressed against my _back_ ," she scolds him for the reminder, "I'd like to see _you_ try that without getting a bullet in your spine. See if you can walk away from it."

"Easy, Crawford," Sam warns half-heartedly while sliding Faraday his own drink since Matilda doesn't seem inclined to give up the one she stole from him, "Remember that Red was the one who killed Two-Gun Kid for you."

"I thanked him, didn't I?" She scoffs while rolling her eyes, tilting her head back to take a sip.

"No," Vas points out with a wicked grin while mocking her, " _I don't remember hearing you thank the man_."

Everyone starts laughing the moment Matilda chokes and starts coughing profusely on her drink, nearly spitting it across the table. Once her fit was over, the back of her throat burning in protest, she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and glares at Vasquez with no real fire behind it. He just wiggles his eyebrows and keeps his hand up to where she could see them in an attempt to prove his innocence. Knowing she had been beaten, she slouches in defeat and looks over at Red with a guilty expression, not quite meeting his gaze, "Thank you, Red Harvest."

Red only shrugs and pretends to go back to the food he's barely touched. However, when he glanced back over at Matilda, he found that it wasn't her staring back at him -as she was currently occupying herself with exchanging stories with Goodnight while the others listen intently, absently picking at the food on her plate now- but Faraday, who waits to lock eyes with the Comanche warrior before nodding once to the younger man. Red had noticed that he had been quiet the entire time they talked about Matilda's encounter with Two-Gun Kid and faintly remembers that someone had mentioned how Faraday had a history with the man before Rose Creek. Seeing Faraday nod to Red Harvest with an equally grateful expression, Red only rolls his eyes as if saying _'anyone of us would have done it. She's everyone's family, too.'_

~~~~~~~~~

The next morning is put together in a blur as Matilda finds herself strapping Ranger up with her saddle and her few belongings. Sam had put it to a vote the night before and everyone agreed that it was time to move on, now that everyone was healed up and back together again. It was like an unspoken agreement that everyone would be riding together from now on, the thought of traveling their separate ways from before they all met for the sake of Rose Creek wasn't even an idea on the table for them. Matilda had shivered at the idea of traveling alone again, buying off land wherever she could for no apparent reason but to just brag at how she's capable of doing a task only a man was meant to do. She now considered the job pointless and not exactly entertaining anymore. Whatever jobs Sam might have in mind for herself and the rest of her newly found group, however, put a spark back in her eyes.

Beside her, Jack the Horse was nibbling on the top of Vasquez's hat, even going as far to snatch it away from him when the former outlaw was busy saddling up his own horse, who even though was noticeably sad to not have Nessie around anymore, still stuck close to Matilda and her new horse. Leaving a string of Spanish curses in his wake, Vas fought with Jack the Devil until Joshua came prancing over, laughing as he grabbed hold of Jack's reigns and returned the hat to the rightful owner. Matilda smiles while inspecting the rest of the group as they prepared for the ride ahead, only breaking her wandering thoughts when a certain assassin walked past.

"Billy," he turned back around at his name and Matilda digs into her belt until she retrieves his knife, offering it up to him.

He just shakes his head, "Keep practicing with it," then he turns back around to help Goody with some of their provisions. Matilda brings the knife back to her being and looks at it before looking back up to where Billy ran off to quizzically. Smiling to herself, she tucks it back into her belt. It doesn't leave much to go by, but in Billy Rocks' language, he was ultimately saying that the knife was hers now.

After strapping on a pack of rations and an itchy tarp meant to sport as a blanket, the woman finds herself being approached by Mary Agnes McNue, "Yer always welcomed to stay, ya know," the stone woman tells her, gesturing to the rest of the crowd gathering around to watch their heroes leave, "No one would say otherwise."

"We're not the settling down types," Matilda easily answers with a shrug and a smile, "We like to wander, else we go stir crazy."

Mary Agnes grins in response and offers her hand. Matilda shakes it with her own and it's a firm grip that lingers a little longer as the La Belle woman's way of being grateful. Charlotte joins them and is more than happy to make up for the lack of Mary's manners, "Thank you so much, Miss Crawford. We couldn't have done it without you."

"I think you could've handled it just fine," Matilda admits while hauntingly watching the hotel as if waiting for the tall building to grow two legs and walk off, "But to make sure it never happens again..."

She reaches into her vest pocket and holds out a small cloth bag that sounds awfully heavy when she rummages it out. But when putting it in the palm of Charlotte's hand, the woman is stunned to find dollar bills and coins inside. Mary Agnes looks over her shoulder to check it out for herself before snapping her head to Matilda, "What is this?"

"Something to help get you started," Miss Persuasion answers, "It's some of the money I earned back from selling many of my plots of land. There's about two-thousand dollars worth in that pouch, and I know you accepted some money from Valentine when he came into town. So go ahead and use it however you like, but I reckon it'll help with finding hired hands to rebuild the town and renew that mine of yours. Maybe the Sheriff could use it to find another deputy or two."

"God bless you, Miss Crawford," Charlotte responds, breathless with delight as she even goes to hug the other woman. Matilda entertains her the hug and when they pull away, she smiles back.

"Take care of yourselves."

"Will do," Mary Agnes grinned, "Are you sure you can't stay?"

Matilda looks over to find Sarah Doyle giggling, yet again, at something Vasquez must have said. Watching the exchange from the back of his horse, Faraday is mocking the Mexican and even adding a long and low whistle, laughing only when Vas raises an unfriendly gesture to him, "We better go... unless you want this town bombarded with more children than you can handle."

Mary Agnes snorts with such an unladylike laugh, all the while Charlotte just rolls her eyes and goes to fetch Sarah Doyle, driving her friend away from Vasquez after he jumps up onto his horse. Matilda grins back at the female McNue and then jumps up onto Ranger, swinging one leg over him just as the Sheriff walks over to Sam and the others, now all of them saddled up and ready to go.

"God speed, gentlemen," he hears a distant cough before Bill McNue glances at Matilda, "And lady."

Tilda winks and pulls on Ranger's reigns once Chisolm nods to the Sheriff and starts riding off. The others slowly follow him out of town, nodding their heads and tipping their hats to any townsfolk they pass by, waving up at the group leaving La Belle. Once there were less and fewer buildings to ride past and the horses make it to the bridge, Sam and the others kick the animals' flanks to push them into a run, galloping faster once they make it to the fields. Before long, they see the Fletcher farm coming up in the distance, and Matilda feels the sudden pull to it like she had before. The farm was always welcoming to her, and something in her heart told her that she was going to miss it.

They rode past the farm, and Matilda didn't bother asking if they could stop, knowing she might never want to leave if they did, but she watched the house and barn the entire time they passed it. She could barely see Alice Fletcher leaning against the porch railings as she watches the riders pass by. Matilda could barely see Iyovi in her usual rocking chair, smoking a pipe while watching the horses race to an unknown destination. She could barely see Truckee, now running out of the house, frantically waving goodbye to them in the hopes that the heroes of La Belle could see it.

Matilda didn't hesitate to wave back, her smile widening when even Alice raised her arm to wave at her, both mother and son walking around their well to keep on waving goodbye until they were just a speck in the distance. When Matilda eventually turned her head back around to watch the road ahead of her, Red Harvest is there riding alongside her with a challenging look in his eye that reminds her just how young he actually is. She grins in response and before long, the two of them are racing ahead of the others, the woman laughing as Red crows at the sky.

"Do _not_ wear out those horses!" Horne calls up to them, "We just started riding, Lord above!"

The other men laugh in response.

~~~~~~~~~

Red and Tilda conclude their race once they make it to the forest line, patiently waiting for the others to join them while taking a few sips of water from their flasks. Red Harvest even dives into some of the tobacco Iyovi had given him while Matilda remains on her saddle beside him, petting Ranger's hair as the two horses grazed while they wait.

Once Sam and the others joined them just before the edge of the woods, Matilda could hear the end of a squabble that made it sound like Goodnight and Faraday were already trying to get to one another's throats, but Billy just shakes his head at her when Matilda sent him a questioning glance.

"Don't fret about it," Horne tells Sam when the warrant officer was about to end the fight, "They've been doing that since we left Rose Creek. It entertains them on the long haul... as well as anyone listening."

Vas snickers at that, which causes Faraday to turn away from Goody to glare at the younger man, "What's so funny?"

"You, _güero_ ," V shakes his head amusedly.

" _Me_?" Faraday sputters, appalled, "This fella here is the one who thinks I drink too much! And you think _I'm_ being funny?"

"Careful, Faraday," Matilda grins, "Insulting Goodnight could mean a knife to your throat."

Horne's chuckling sounds more like hiccups as Billy's eyes glance at Matilda in response, then darting over to Faraday as quick as one of his knives. The gambler doesn't appear to look worried at the assassin, however, as he grins over at their female companion.

"You wouldn't let him."

"Would I?" Tilda quirked an eyebrow.

"Of course not," Faraday winks, "You like me too much."

"I think I like Billy more."

Goodnight's laugh could shake the trees as he leans back to howl, nearly falling off his horse as he does so. Billy just shakes his head while kicking his horse into walking forward after Chisolm berates them to stop wasting time and keep moving. As all the horses start up again, Matilda hangs hers back to walk alongside Jack and Faraday towards the end of their train. 

"You don't actually like Rocks more than me, do you?" He asks, although his tone gives Matilda reason not to take him seriously as he sounded like a perpetual child, asking his mother if she favors one son over another.

She rolls her eyes, "Billy has a better way with words compared to you."

"Bullshit! The man doesn't say anything!"

Her grin is wide and sparkling against the sun, "Exactly."

"I've spent most of my time in his company these past months," Faraday complained, "And trust me when I say he's got a more cruel sense of humor than I do."

"But at least he knows when to keep his mouth shut," she quips back.

"Hey!" He resorts down to a sly smile, "You weren't complaining about how I use my mouth yesterday."

But she was expecting the jab and without trying to give away her smile when thinking about their kiss, she quickly responds, "That's because your mouth was at least shut."

"We can still hear you, ya know!" Goodnight complains from up ahead, shouting back from over his shoulder with an annoyed expression while Vasquez howled with laughter.

~~~~~~~~~

From then on, it was smooth riding for Chisolm and his crew. Matilda thoroughly enjoyed having the entire team back together as they always talked and laughed so naturally, like they have all known each other for years, no one would ever guess that this assembly has only ever been recent. They were riding on their horses from dawn until dusk, day after day, only ever stopping whenever the horses needed to eat and drink and their riders needed to stretch and relieve themselves. Sometimes, they would walk alongside their horses when they deemed it to be a slow, casual day. So far, the group didn't have a destination in mind, and no one would admit it... but they just wanted to spend time as a whole again after saving not one, but two towns from a tragic ending. 

When the sun sets and they gather around whatever campfire they had managed to light up, their drinks, smokes, and rations are shared with stories and jokes that always made everyone laugh, even Red for a time or two. One night, they heard a pack of wolves out in the distance and the group was so riled up with joy and excitement, they howled right back, leaning their heads back to whoop and holler at the bright moon above them. And by 'they', it was mostly Goody, Horne, Vas, and Faraday, all having a little too much to drink that night as they laughed and howled. Sam chuckled and shook his head while staring down at the fire, while Billy and Matilda would join Red Harvest in the tradition of rolling their eyes at their gleeful idiots. Tilda could safely say that even though the aftermath of Rose Creek appeared gray for her future, now it was full of colors. She finally felt whole again. And when she looked around at the rest of her companions, she knew that they felt the same. 

They had been on the road for a week when Matilda noticed that something was wrong.

She had never noticed before because Faraday was always in close proximity to her. He was like her shadow and almost always refused to be anywhere else other than by her side. After waking up with her injury in La Belle, Faraday was always a few steps behind her with only a few exceptions in between. He was never far and always reacted to everything that was said to him.

Except for today. Chisolm had sent the gambler along with Vasquez to scout ahead for their campsite the upcoming evening. As the two of them were riding about twenty paces in front of the rest of their herd, Matilda cupped her hands together and called after them "Behave, you two!"

She could see Vas wave half-heartedly in response although Faraday only looked at the other man like he was crazy, looking around to see what he was waving at. Matilda watched the scene curiously until they had finally turned into two small dots. Shrugging it off, she turned to make conversation with Goodnight as he was currently riding beside her, but he appeared to still be watching where Vas and Joshua had disappeared before calmly stating.

"I thought he told you."

"Who told me what?" She hummed, not really paying attention as she looked down to busy herself with braiding Ranger's mane.

Goody sighed, "Back in Rose Creek, we had been told that Faraday's hearing in one ear and that bum leg of his might never be the same again," Matilda finally looked up with wide eyes as her Cajun friend continued explaining, "I have noticed that once in a while, someone might say something and then Faraday wouldn't respond like he normally would. At first, I thought it might be some change of character, but now I think he just sometimes doesn't hear the moment when he's supposed to make his usual snarky comments. Lizzie Michaels was talking right at him about you but he didn't appear to notice and the only thing that was standing between them was a bar counter."

Matilda thinks back to when she and Faraday took their horses riding outside of La Belle. When she called up to him, he didn't respond and kept on riding. When he had fallen off Jack and Tilda asked if he had heard her, he brushed the topic off so easily, she had never second-guessed it, "Does he know?" she asked worriedly.

"I think he does. But you know Faraday," Goody looked over to smirk slightly, "Do you think he'll acknowledge it's a problem?"

"Then how come he hears me just fine when we stand close?"

"Haven't you noticed? He always stands on the right side of you."

And he was correct, as always. Matilda could only ever remember Faraday sticking close to her from over the right side of her shoulder, never the left. So if he knows that he can't hear out of his right ear, then how come he never mentioned it? He clearly knows that Matilda is aware of his leg, you can't exactly hide a limp without tiring yourself. So did he think that pretending he could hear just fine by always talking to people from their right side would make the problem go away? Matilda wasn't sure if she was in the right to bring it up and knew that Faraday will talk to her if he wants to. But now that she knows, she could at least make things a little easier for him.

When Vas and Faraday returned from their scouting mission, they reported seeing a nice opening just outside the edge of the woods. When they had set up camp that night, Matilda made sure to sit on the left side of Faraday without a word of reasoning, but not that she needed one, if Faraday's grateful gaze reflecting off the campfire had nothing to show for it.

The group decided that night to pitch their tents as a storm appeared in the distance, though it didn't appear it wasn't going to settle within a matter of hours. It was brewing for so long, with no sign of starting let alone slowing down, that the storm was definitely going to be big and possibly last the whole night. The group appeared relaxed with that observation and had put out the fire several hours earlier than they normally would, each settling down in their own, respective tents with the exception of Goodnight and Billy.

By the time the last lantern had burned out, the storm had finally hit their campsite. Faraday laid back in his tent to listen to the howling winds and rain cascading all around him, the damp only able to enter the tent through the small flaps that threatened to open, but otherwise Joshua was able to stay dry. He smirks to himself while staring up at the roof to his tent before closing his eyes, listening to the wild sounds of the night outside in order to lull himself to sleep.

But for some reason, sleep never arrives. And by the time he feels as though he might drift off, the thunder suddenly appears out of nowhere and shakes the ground with a mighty roar, startling Faraday and causing him to sit upright.

Why was he short of breath? He panics as his chest constricts painfully to try and grasp some air, his fingers soothing out over the dark grass underneath him to try and ground himself, but the thunder hits again and causes the ground beneath him to stir like a huge animal. The thunder sounds as though it was clapping right above his head, laughing at a grown-ass man being startled by a small thunderstorm. 

"What the fuck?" Faraday muttered to himself, still unable to control his own heartbeat. When the Hell did he ever have a problem with a storm? The thunder hits again and before he could control it, the man's own body betrays him as his hands spring up to clasp tightly over his own ears, his entire torso and legs curling in on themselves. The dark didn't appear to help, knowing that he couldn't see where the sound was coming from. He didn't know if it was in front of or behind him. He didn't know if the explosion was coming for him or was being set off in the distance.

At the very thought of an explosion, Faraday is driven into confusion and denial. What does an explosion have to do with a damn thunderstorm? Why did he even think of it? He didn't have to think very hard before another clap of thunder drives him to close his eyes, squeezing them shut almost as hard as his hands were squeezing his head. He just wants it to end. But it doesn't, the storm not even letting up for a moment to give him a minute to breathe.

Instead, he feels a hand gently grab his wrist and he opened his eyes, his heart wanting to jump out of his chest in a panic as he attempts to look for his guns. He stops, however, when the grip on his wrist loosens and the strange hand slowly moves in a gentle caress. Through the dark, an oil lamp ignites Tilda's face, and silently, she lays it down to sit just beside Faraday's blanket once the man is calm enough to realize that she was no threat. Her thumb runs a slow circle over the vein of Faraday's wrist, coaching his heartbeat to slow ever so slightly. She places her other hand on his chest and gently pushes him to lay back down, following him with her hand still holding his wrist. Her lamp is still dimly lit and sitting behind her while she curls into Faraday's side, giving him a clear view of the light from over her shoulder. He's vaguely aware that her hair is unruly and wet from the storm outside, her skin cold as she loosely wraps his blanket around the both of them. She doesn't say anything as she tucks her head into his chest, her fingers trailing soothing shapes onto the linen of his shirt. 

He finally relaxes against her, muscles loosening as his free arm unintentionally wraps around her waist to bring her closer. He settles his chin above her head and listens to her steady breathing as she slowly drifts off to sleep. He stays awake a little longer, still able to hear the thunder outside, but doesn't have the nerve to care anymore. Watching the oil lamp flicker and cast their shadows onto the tent wall behind them, Faraday could feel his lungs expand into a calming sigh, and he closes his eyes, never noticing how heavy they had gotten until now. Feeling another warm body pressed against him, the oil lamp lighting their surroundings, Faraday now had the reassurance that he wasn't in a bad place. He wasn't back out there on the fields of Rose Creek, letting a Gatling gun blow up in his face and send him flying in the air. 

He was in a tent, settled in a campsite with his traveling companions and a thunderstorm hovering above them. There was an oil lamp in front of him, flickering a warm glow while laying down beside the most wonderful woman in the world. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's not uncommon among Mag 7 writers, but I feel like not many acknowledge the fact that Faraday's hearing would most definitely be damaged if he had survived an explosion like that so I added it to his usual bum leg most people write about. It leaves more room for my angsty-writing heart.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Word hasn't traveled fast enough for bounty hunters to know that Vasquez is off-limits.

In hindsight, Vasquez should have known that no one would take his newly expunged warrant seriously.

There he was, sitting in a roughed up saloon planted in a small outpost that he can go as far as say was a ten-days ride from La Belle, New Mexico without a care in the world. None of his group complained as they were weary from traveling and wanted a decent bed for at least one night. He was watching said group go about enjoying their usual nightly activities. Red Harvest and Horne had disappeared outside to smoke tobacco and skin a deer they managed to shoot outside the outpost, talking about seasoning and savoring the meat for the team's future travels. Sam rested himself up against the bar counter on the other side of the saloon, talking to some local men for any possible news or sightings that could be of use to him. Goodnight and Billy were sitting beside their Mexican friend at a table in the far corner of the room -as Billy suggested was a great vantage point, but not that Vas listened as he no longer believed he needed to look over his shoulders-, the Cajun telling a story of when he first witnessed a drunk Billy take on a blacksmith in an unheard-of town. The former assassin just shook his head throughout the whole story, but Vas thoroughly enjoyed the tall-tale and laughed until his sides hurt. He made the comment of how Billy should loosen up as there was no reason to feel paranoid. Rocks looked over at him from where he sat with his back up against the wall and looking out over the room, without missing a beat as he replied, "Go get Faraday another drink. He looks like he could use it."

Which he didn't, if Vas heard the gambler's familiar laugh from over his shoulder had anything to go by. But he knew the subtly behind Billy's words and he knew when he was being kicked out for the sake of privacy, so he rolled his eyes in response and stood up to leave, Goody flashing him a wryly grin before the Mexican went to go and find Faraday.

He was exactly where Vas had left him. Joshua had found a table of men playing cards and had immediately jumped into it the moment their group had entered the saloon. He hadn't moved since as apparently he was winning the gambles by quite a lot. Sitting next to Faraday on his left was Matilda, her shoulder pressed up against his as she watched the game with a bored expression. The woman had told Vasquez about Faraday's hearing damage, and both had silently agreed to always be within talking distance of the gambler's left ear whenever they wanted to talk to him. If Faraday had noticed that was what they were doing, he didn't say anything, too proud of himself to say otherwise but kept close to them regardless. Vasquez didn't mind the arrangement as he was always within proximity of Faraday and Matilda, to begin with, the three of them always walking or riding close, like the way they had fought together when first arriving in Rose Creek, back to back and always watching each other's blind spots. It was that reason alone Vasquez was so sure he no longer had to look over his shoulder or keep his head down, even though Sam had already bought out his warrant. He thought he would be safe in numbers, with seven other people watching his back at all times. 

He should have known better than to let his guard down.

"'Cuse me, sir, but you look an awful lot like that outlaw, Vasquez."

Upon hearing the sly voice from behind him, Vas stiffened, his shoulders noticeably locking up. Why did he have to react like that? The Mexican was sure that if Faraday was in this situation, the gambler would have put on his best poker face and would talk and lie the man's ear off. The man he was referring to, however, seemed to be a great deal smarter than most of Vasquez's opponents and before long he felt a faint click and a press of cool metal on the back of his neck, the small hairs rising up at the touch.

"Turn around. Slowly. Hands where I can see 'em."

Vas complied, slowly lifting his arms from his side. Before turning around, however, Vas was able to throw a glance over to the poker table across the room, and with that glance, he had managed to catch Matilda's eye, who was looking around at the time to find something better to do other than watch Faraday win some bets against strangers-- again. The woman didn't appear too alarmed at first, her eyes only squinting when she noticed the figure over Vasquez's shoulder then slowly reached out to tap Faraday's elbow. Now that she had the gambler's attention, she stood up and walked away, towards the bar. Before Vas fully turned around, he had noticed Faraday observe the situation and then loudly proclaim to his gambling counterparts that he folds. He had also noticed Matilda had finally reached Sam at the bar.

When finally making eye contact with the man responsible for his ambush, Vasquez wasn't surprised to see that the man was worse-for-wear. He looked pissed off and was sporting a week-old beard. Keeping his pistol trained right between Vasquez's eyes, the man snarls, "It _is_ you. How 'bout we take this outside?"

Vas narrows his eyes at him, a gleam of steel catching the corner of his eye from over the stranger's shoulder and Goodnight's voice coming up behind the man, "I'm afraid we can't let you do that, son."

The opposing man stiffens, his knuckles gripping the pistol in Vasquez's face turn pure white when he also heard the voice. On one side of the stranger stood Goodnight, rifle trained right on his head. On the other side, Billy walked around until the stranger noticed him and the knives he held in both hands.

"Told you that table was a good vantage point," he directs his stare at Vasquez, who only growls in response.

"Easy, fellas," Sam's voice comes up behind Vasquez and he felt himself relax when the familiar presence of Matilda and Faraday were with him on either side.

"Now, this is quite the change of scenery, huh, V?" The woman's voice belonging to his best friend sounded sly, "It's nice to see our positions reversed for a change."

"Crawford. Relax," Sam sends a warning her way before stepping up and into Vasquez's line of sight, Chisolm now with his hands up while eyeing the stranger, "Now who might you be, sir?"

"Charles Garrett. And you are?"

"My name is Sam Chisolm. I'm a duly sworn warrant officer of the circuit court in Wichita, Kansas. I'm also a licensed peace officer in the Indian Territories, Arkansas, Nebraska, and seven other states."

"If you're a warrant officer, then you know that this man here is wanted," Mister Garrett snarls while gripping his pistol tighter, only glaring at Vas and nothing else.

"He _was_ wanted," Chisolm corrects, "But I had paid off his bounty months ago in exchange for his freedom. There is no longer a $500 reward on him."

"What?!" The man roars, nearly thrusting his gun further to Vasquez's face, causing the Mexican and all of his companions to stiffen and surround the furious stranger, "You're just gonna let 'im go?"

"If you want the reward money so bad, find a different bounty to chase."

"I ain't after no damn money," this stuns the entire group as they all exchange wary glances with each other, "The ranger this sonuvabitch killed was my brother!"

The blood that ran cold in Vasquez's veins couldn't stop the way he lets out an unimpressed scoff from escaping his lips. Sam had turned just enough to glare at him before Charles Garrett growled like a wild animal, glaring into the former outlaw's soul.

"You shot my brother."

He somehow feels familiarity behind the words. Something distant comes to mind as Vas thinks about the Two-Gun Kid. Was he that vengeful of Faraday that he would risk hurting an innocent such a Matilda just to hurt him? To avenge his brother?

Looking back at Charles, Vas came to the conclusion that any desperate man would if the opportunity struck. He knew from experience as the distant memory of what he had of Maria's face flashed before his eyes, "He killed the woman I loved."

Charles laughs with hollow sympathy, "I don't care if he killed your whole family, hombre. I still want you dead for killing mine."

Vas feels a hand on his shoulder the moment before he debated on lunging at Charles. Stopping himself, Vas looked over to watch Sam crucially while the warrant officer tries to reason, "I'd say Mister Vasquez here had every right to shoot the man who harmed his family. It was justifiable."

" _Family_ ," the man sneered, "She was a whore. A bitch who wouldn't even open her legs for my brother."

Matilda growls somewhere behind Vas before he could say anything worse and the man turns to her, "What? Don't like me talkin' shit about your own kind?"

"Ex- _fucking_ -cuse me?" Vasquez could barely control himself from shivering at the taut tone in Faraday's voice, on the verge of madness but still able to hold what could only be described as mischevious. Barely looking over his shoulder, Vas watched as Faraday let the shine of his own two guns match the same gleam in his green eyes, a lopsided, possessive-looking smile gracing his lips as he stood over Matilda's right shoulder as usual, "I know I didn't just hear you say that."

"Than yer dumber than you look. 'Cause I said it."

Vas wondered if this man had a death wish along with his vendetta as he faintly heard the pull of a hammered pistol followed by Matilda's voice, "I don't mind being insulted. But insulting a woman who isn't even alive -because of your brother, mind you- to defend herself just doesn't sit right with me."

"Or any of us," Billy adds while flashing one knife knowingly as he brushed the cool steel against his sleeve, eyeing Garrett with the same said steel in his gaze.

"Now, I wouldn't want to alarm you," Sam begins while speaking directly to Garrett, "But there's five of us with our friend here and then two more outside. How do those odds sound to you, Robicheaux?"

"Quite unfair if you're asking me, Sam," Goodnight responded, even adding a flashy smile when Garrett turned to the sharpshooter upon hearing his last name. 

"That's what I figured," Sam nods to Goody before stepping closer to Garrett, nearly cutting his line of sight of Vas with his gun near Chisolm's own shoulder now, "The way I see it, young man, is that you have two options. You either walk away and live to mourn your brother properly with his family. Or, we kill you in self-defense of our friend here. But there is no other option available to you where you get the choice to shoot Vasquez. None."

His enraged eyes narrow, "And if I just shoot you first and then him?"

"Then you'll be killing a warrant officer. But good luck living long enough to kill Vasquez," Sam's eyes dart over Garrett's shoulder and to get his point across, Goodnight pulls back the hammer of his Winchester rifle to make that significant click, "But even if you did live through this, you would be a wanted man. You can go to my friend here for some tips on how to survive on the run if you so wish."

Faraday didn't have to decency to keep things to himself and laughed hard enough to damage any man's pride. Vas even inwardly cringed for Charles Garrett, who paled and slowly lowered the gun. Carefully looking around at all the men and woman surrounding him, the man swallows in his throat, his body slowly starting to shake before glaring down at the ground and muttering, "Fine."

He quickly walks away, tail between his legs. The moment he exits the saloon, the air feels fresher. Fresh enough that most of Vas' crew visibly deflates and inhale slowly in relief, but not him. His arms turn stiff at his sides while he glares at the ground where his opponent once stood. He shakes out of his daze, however, when Goodnight's hand gently slaps his shoulder.

"You alright?" The Cajun asks.

When Vas finally looks around at his companions, he can see the worry and pity etched in all of their faces, and it unsettled him more than ease him. Having been alone for far too long in the wilderness must bring out the sudden urge to be alone again for once and so Vasquez quickly nods and makes a beeline for the door, "I'm gonna go check on the horses."

"V--" Matilda reaches out to him but only grabs air from where he once stood. She watches heavily as Vas practically stomps out of the saloon and towards the stables, pent up and ready to strike like a viper.

"Let him go, Crawford," Sam advises, "He needs a moment to breathe."

"So do I, now that you mention it," Faraday makes a show of patting at his vest and pockets before flashing Tilda a wry grin, "Gotta smoke?"

And with a breath of laughter, Tilda's worry for her friend temporarily melts away.

~~~~~~~~~

But it doesn't last very long. Within the hour, Tilda is back to thinking about Vasquez as she stares into her half-empty drink, the upper parts of her body leaning against the bar counter while her other companions talk on either side of her. At one point, Faraday's hand had found her leg underneath the table while he talked to Goody on the right side of her. And even though the touch was warm and comforting, she still felt her mind buzzing with concern. 

The hand squeezes her leg gently and she looks up, locking eyes with Faraday's green orbs that just appeared as concerned as she felt despite his grin, "Penny for your thoughts?"

"I don't like how we're in here enjoying ourselves when Vas was clearly rattled by what happened earlier," she sighs and then knocks back the rest of her drink, flipping her hair to the side then cursing, "Screw it. I'm gonna go drag him back here."

She hops off the stool but doesn't get far before she hears Sam's authoritative voice behind her, "Matilda, leave him be. He just needs to be alone right now."

The woman doesn't hesitate to spin around and shoot back a look at Chisolm, "Didn't you tell Vas to leave _me_ alone after Rose Creek? Look how _that_ turned out, I nearly left half a dozen times."

She doesn't wait for a response as she felt all of her friends' eyes looking at her as she makes her way out of the saloon. She takes a deep breath once she steps out into the night air and makes her way towards the stables, keeping to herself and only hearing the faint laughter of the saloon clash with the crunch under her boots. There might be a cricket out in the distance, but it's faint and can only be heard the closer Matilda gets to the town's barn. As she goes to walk into the stables, she stops on instinct, something heavy dropping down into her stomach that made her feel all sorts of wrong. Tilda steps back from the doorway to the barn and listens closely. In the distance, she hears some snickering possibly behind the building, a small clatter of glass hits against pebbles. Walking around the stables, her hand running across the old wood, she sneaks quietly until she peers around the corner to find the source of laughter.

She first recognizes Charles Garrett among the small crowd of six men. They were all hovering in a tight circle, tilting their heads back and taking large swigs of their beer while laughing down and stomping their boots into the ground.

But the ground was groaning in pain, and Matilda felt the blood drain from her face.

Before she could come up with a single thought, her hand reacts by grabbing her gun and shooting Charles Garrett in the face.

The whole town is ambushed by the sound of the single shot and the night air is suddenly silenced. As Garrett falls to the ground, dead, his friends all look around, drunk and confused. Matilda fires off her pistol again and another man falls in response. The others finally realize what's happening and look around for their intruder, finding Matilda round the corner of the barn just as she shoots and kills a third. The remaining three struggle to grab their own weapons and Matilda's able to fire off two more bullets before she's stepped too close within arms distance and drops her gun to grab her knife. She had wounded one man with two bullet wounds to his gut and uses him as a shield once the others start firing. The man jerks in sync with the bullets and Tilda pushes the now dead man into one of her opponents, distracting him as she jumps onto the other, desperately trying to wrestle the gun from his wrist. Since he's drunk, it wasn't too much of a struggle as she slices his arm with her knife, the man howling in pain as he does her the favor of dropping his gun in order to clutch the cut. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the other distracted man push the dead body of his friend off of him and raises his gun. She empties her hands by throwing her knife and watching it dig into his neck, rendering him speechless for several moments, feeling the blood drip down his neck before he falls to the ground. 

Matilda doesn't waste time to grab for one of their discarded guns and finishes off the wounded man underneath her. She doesn't even blink as she watches his skull explode to the impact of the bullet, the gunfire echoing in her ears before flying off into the night. She takes several gulps of air as she sits over the body, panting and whimpering with adrenaline while looking around at the scattered corpses before remembering why she killed them all in the first place.

"Vasquez!" She rasped between fits of gasps before crawling over to the body Garrett and his boys were drinking, laughing, and stomping over. She claws at his shoulder and flips him over onto his back, cursing when she recognizes the broken nose.

He didn't look well at all. Unconcious, he still groaned like an injured horse that needed to be put down. His face was riddled with cuts, cruises, and blood, his eyes too swollen to open even if he wanted to. His hair was matted and pat down with sweat and blood and as Tilda runs her fingers through his curly locks, sure enough, she found a deep cut riding against the side of his skull, her fingers coming back up caked in scarlet red. His left arm was twisted in a direction it shouldn't and there were rips and tears running along his shirt to coexist with the huge bruises underneath that were no doubt from the heels and steel-toes of boots. Matilda figured Vas had a couple of broken ribs judging by the way his shallow breaths came out in wheezes and hisses.

The sound of several people running in their direction should have warning bells going off in Matilda's head, but she was too overwhelmed with Vasquez's injuries to care whilst she kept her hand firmly pressed against the cut in his head. There was shouting all across town and lanterns being lit from all of the commotions, someone even shouting for the sheriff in the distance. Looking up just as someone comes around to the back of the barn, Matilda finds that it's Billy who is the first to find the source of the gunfire and his eyes harden to the sight of bodies and blood scattered all around Matilda as she held Vasquez in her arms. Goodnight isn't far behind his partner as he also comes to the same predicament, but he had more to say compared to Billy.

"Oh my Lord..." he whispered in shock to the scene.

Sam runs around next to Faraday, who struggles with his limp but is able to catch up to the rest of his companions. Out of breath, Joshua could only look around at the scene in horror before resting on Matilda, whose eyes are blown out of proportion and panting like a rabid animal.

"Tilda?"

"Someone go and find Horne and Red NOW!" She screams.

~~~~~~~~~

For what were only hours felt like days for Matilda, as she could only watch her best friend sleep restlessly on that cot, barely able to toss and turn due to his injuries so instead he whimpers in pain, unable to wake but also unable to get comfortable and rest peacefully. All she could think about was what could have happened if she was only a second later... or if she had decided to take Sam's advice and leave Vas only. What else those bastards could have done to him if she didn't go after him. Horne and Red Harvest doted on every visible injury once Sam and Billy were able to find the two of them camping just outside of town. Everyone who wasn't attending to Vasquez's wounds was ushered outside of his hotel room while the natural healers of the group worked their magic, the local Sheriff now interrogating Matilda for information. Every eye witness who was in the saloon last night saw the confrontation between Garrett and Vas, and everyone heard how badly one wanted to kill the other. Once Matilda gave her piece, the Sheriff did, in fact, believe that she had only acted in defense of saving her friend and that there was no foul play to investigate further. The bodies were burned in the morning and before long both Red and Horne came out of Vasquez's room to report saying that all he needs now is rest. They had tended to his broken arm and bandaged any visible cuts, but for the broken ribs to heal Vas needed to stay bedridden for a while.

Vasquez got off easy, despite the circumstances. But it didn't mean Matilda had to feel better about it. All she could do now is stay by his side as he heals, no matter what. 

Faraday appears to have a similar idea as he has taken a seat at the foot of the bed from the very moment they brought Vas in here. While he and Matilda anxiously wait, Joshua decides to channel his nerves into sporadically shuffling his deck of cards, only looking up when he hears movement from the bed but always travels back down to the cards whenever Vas settled back down. He doesn't bother trying to cheer Matilda up or reassure her, knowing that it would be just as pointless if she were to do the same for him. He knew that they were both stubborn that way and maybe that's what made them work. 

"He had someone?" He instead says in an attempt to distract himself from his wandering thoughts, recalling the words Vas had spoken back in the saloon.

_"He killed the woman I loved."  
_

Looking up, Faraday watched Matilda's face twist to form a shadow as she slowly nodded, not looking away from Vas for a second, "Maria. The ranger took advantage of her in front of her family. Shot her there, too. He had been lying and waiting for Vasquez to be out in the fields for the day."

The news causes Faraday to grind his teeth together to keep himself from saying anything in particular that would send his mother rolling over in her grave. Instead, he only nods in response and mutters, "Explains why he's been alone for so long. He tell you this while he was drunk?"

"No. It was the night before Frank Griffin came to La Belle," she explained, "Neither of us was drunk enough but we talked about our pasts regardless. He was sober when he told me about her," Faraday noticed the way she was wringing her hands together as she sniffs, "He also told me that he's never had anything because he wasn't brave enough to be responsible for anyone but himself," she shakes his head and offers a thin smile in Joshua's direction, finally looking at him with a scowl, "He was being young and stupid. He went after that ranger knowing that he wouldn't get any justice for it. He knew that he would be a wanted man. He risked his life for someone who was already dead. It was stupid."

"Why? I'd do it," _'if it were you'_ was left unsaid but it was heavily implied as Faraday kept his eyes fixed on her. Matilda watches his composure, trying to find a lie or a joke beneath his words, but didn't find anything as he had refused to break eye contact with her until she was satisfied with what she had found and looked away.

"You don't appear concerned," she finally responded.

He shrugs even though she wasn't watching him anymore, trying to pretend that the cards were not for his nervous tick, "'Bout what? Horne said he'll be just fine."

"No, about him and me."

Faraday looked up from his deck and made sure Matilda was looking back at him before shrugging again, "Why should I be? This is _Vas_ we're talkin' about. Not Roy Goode or any other strange fella we might end up meetin' in our travels."

"Again, Roy Goode was just helping me tame Ranger," Matilda rolled her eyes and smiled a little more softly, and Faraday knew he has her distracted, "Besides, didn't you notice he had eyes for Alice?"

"I don't care if he had eyes for the Virgin Mary. He was too nice for a wanted outlaw."

She laughed this time, and Faraday considered it a win in his book, smiling despite the odds as if he couldn't control it. Her laugh sounded like chimes in the wind until the laugh slowly dies down and Tilda got control of herself again, humming to catch her breath as her gaze falls back down onto the bed.

Her expression is warm while admitting, "He helped," and for some reason, Faraday knew she wasn't talking about Roy as she only watched the sleeping Mexican across from her like he was about to wake up squawking, "For a while, I didn't feel entirely alone. On my bad days, he would teach me Spanish. Kept me busy from thinking of other things."

"What things?"

She shrugs, thinking about the dozens of times she found herself sharing cups of coffee and smokes with Vasquez whenever he thought she was acting distant, "You, mostly. Then Billy, Goody, and Horne. By the time we had gotten to La Belle, I hadn't shot or heard a gun since Rose Creek and I damn near died of a heart attack when I finally did again."

She shivers at the thought, her arms coming up to wrap themselves around her frame, "It was stuff like that would remind me of you all. I'd get scared like a baby deer sometimes, whenever I hear something loud. Reminds me of how Goodnight looked startled during that first gunfight in Rose Creek. I didn't understand why it scared him so much. Now I do."

Faraday nods, thinking back to the way he acted around Goody before Rose Creek and then the way he experienced his first thunderstorm after saving La Belle, the warm lamp and Matilda's warmth the only comfort he could find in that restrained tent. There was a small pit of guilt nagging at the bottom of Faraday's stomach after thinking about the way he treated Goodnight before their battle with Bogue. How he expected him to act like the war hero he was instead of this flimsy bag of cowardness he now bestowed whenever he held a gun. He probably didn't make Goody feel any more comfortable after the stunt he pulled when trying to gun train the men of Rose Creek with him. If anything, it probably prompted Goodnight to leave further down the road.

The idea that Matilda could now understand the horrors behind Goodnight's ghosts bothered Faraday, "You mentioned earlier how you almost ran off."

She nods, "A few times, yeah. Vas would wake at ungodly hours to make sure I didn't leave," her expression slowly twists into that face she makes whenever she realizes something, and already Faraday wished he could put a wall up in fear of what she might ask, "...Did you make him promise to keep me safe?"

Blood rises to his face when he remembered that night, full of drinks, kisses, and promises, and whether or not the slight redness to his cheeks was from shame or bashfulness, she didn't know but he had lowered his head back down to his cards to avoid eye contact regardless. "I might've."

"He said that you knew you were going to die."

"That didn't mean _you_ had to," he muttered quietly.

"We were all risking our lives out there. We knew what would happen if we lost."

"Did you know that in La Belle?"

"I did," her arms tighten closer to her chest, "And I told Vas that he wasn't allowed to protect me anymore. He promised you to keep me alive, win or lose, but I didn't exactly want to be left alive if we lost to Frank Griffin. I told Vas that I would rather slit my own wrists than to fall victim to a man like Griffin."

Faraday looks up to shoot a glare at her, "You don't mean that."

"I do," she shoots back, "You wouldn't understand, no matter how much you tried. But I would rather choose where and when I die than be kept alive as a whore. I already fell into that fate with my father and my ex-husband. And you're crazy if you think I could ever go through that again."

"You won't _have_ to," Faraday, for a moment, loses control of whatever anger was brewing up in his gut as some of the cards fly out of his tightening grip mid-shuffle. He curses under his breath while trying to busy himself with picking the cards up from the ground, "Not now. Not ever. If you think any of us would let you go back to that, then _you're_ the one who's crazy. And trying to understand is completely different from actually understanding. Believe me, I know."

"How," Matilda narrows her gaze, "You had a husband who would beat and use you for every second of your life and you didn't tell me?"

"Not me," he simply answered once he got all of his cards back, falling into heavy silence before Matilda scowled.

"No. Not happening. You don't get to shut down on me. You happened to drag out my sad story back in Rose Creek. It's your turn to share."

Faraday's jaw visibly tightens while he only stared down at his cards, his vision growing dark with a storm brewing in his mind. Finally, he muttered, "My mother."

Tilda's right eyebrow turns up, "What about your mother?"

"She was raped."

"By who?"

He shrugs, "Dunno. I never learned my bastard father's name."

The room was silent except for Vasquez's ragged breaths. Faraday didn't dare look up at Matilda as he now pretends to organize his cards by number then color. The room was way too quiet as he does so, enough to the point where he did eventually have to risk a look at Matilda, only to see her eyes wide in shock, her mouth open agape, "You...?"

He lets out an empty laugh, "Yeah. Son of a bitch left me with her after he was done. Ma never blamed me, but her folks definitely did."

"But that wasn't your fault," Tilda frowned, "You can't help being born."

"My grandparents definitely didn't feel the same way. That's why I only had my mother for family. I didn't have anything after she died."

"Vas didn't have anything either," she tries comforting while her eyes dart towards the bed, "Like he said. He never had anything because he never felt responsible for anyone but himself." 

Faraday watches the Mexican on the bed as well while humming, "Maybe he does have something now. He feels responsible for _you_."

"So do you," their eyes meet again and he finds Tilda smiling, "Who needs guard dogs when I have the two of you?"

He snorts in response, his shoulders shaking while trying to feign irritation, "Oh, you think you're _so_ funny."

"I think I'm hilarious. Ask anyone. Ask Horne."

Faraday laughs louder this time enough for it to bounce off of all four walls, and all at once, the room is silent when the figure on the bed begins to stir more lively this time. Matilda and Faraday stare in horror at one another before each of them is standing up from their chairs and placing themselves on either side of Vasquez.

He groans while struggling to open his eyes. Even though the swelling had gone down, it was still a bit of a struggle and so he was only able to squint while looking around, which in hindsight helped his splitting headache.

"Too loud, _güero_ ," his grumbled lowly in his chest, wincing when the sound rattled some broken ribs.

"It's a gift," Faraday retorts clean and fast, grinning down at his friend, "I've been told by many women how vocal I can be-!"

Matilda reaches over the bed to slap the hat off of Faraday's head, grinning all the while she does it, "You're not supposed to make him laugh, idiot."

Vas bites his bloodied lip to keep himself from chuckling too hard all the while trying not to jostle his broken arm, now tied up in a sling, "What... happened...?"

"Charles Garrett," Faraday frowns while letting Matilda grow silent, "The fucker from last night? He had some friends and there was an ambush. Hadn't Tilda gone to find you, there's no telling whether or not you would have survived that, hombre."

Vas' eyes couldn't get any wider due to the swollen bruises, but he tried regardless while turning his head slightly to catch Matilda's gaze. She was frowning down at her hands originally before looking back up at him, and Vasquez caught sight of dried blood still caked behind her nails. He tried swallowing something in his throat while trying to recall the last time someone saved his life or had put him first before anything. When he couldn't recall, the Mexican felt cold as though someone had splashed him with ice water.

" _Gracias_ ," he whispered mostly into the pillow as he sunk lower into the feathers.

Her smile wavered, but it was genuine, " _Lo harias por mi_."

" _En un instante._ " 

"Come on, guys," Faraday playfully rolled his eyes, "Feelin' left out here."

Vas hums to mock a laugh that wouldn't hurt so much while Tilda just rolls her eyes. The former outlaw tries to settle into the bed better as he feels sleep trying to take over him once again. His eyes start to feel heavier than before and suddenly it was hard to talk again as he struggled to open his mouth, "Alehandahro..."

"What was that?" Faraday flashed a curious grin while leaning closer to hear better and Vas grunts in frustration.

"My name is Alejandro," he tries again and was able to fight back sleep enough to make it sound much clearer.

Both Faraday and Tilda sit up to stare at each other in bewilderment before Faraday laughs harmoniously, "Well shit! Vasquez is your _last_ name?"

Tilda laughed under her breath, small wrinkles turning up by her eyes as she smiled uncontrollably, "You son of a bitch."

The Mexican is able to flash a wolf-like grin before passing out from exhaustion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are still reading, thank you so much! I am currently self-isolating due to COVID-19 and I hope that more chapters will be published in the near future, so thank you for sticking around for so long!


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: The following chapter has much-needed smut since we're now nineteen chapters in and still have at least one more big adventure to pull through. Be advised, it is only tamed smut since I didn't want any explicit details to drive you away from the actual story XD. This chapter is also dedicated to the very song my story is named after... Black by Dierks Bentley. Feel free to listen to it as the smut begins! Enjoy!

Rose Creek was a victory for a lot of people. Well, most of the people. Not really for Faraday.

Sure, he got the girl, won over her heart and the rest of the townsfolk, his only friends are safe and he still has his horse. Life couldn't be getting any better for him. But something was different in him. Something's changed. He feels like he's lost something in the fire, and he feels as though after weeks of recovering from his wounds, he would not be able to find whatever he lost in the ashes.

He didn't know what that something was until he and the rest of the gang were miles away from La Belle, roughly three weeks after Vasquez's incident. Most of Vasquez's cuts and bruises have vanished, for the most part, leaving the arm as the last wound that still needed to finish up healing. He was able to ride and shoot with his other hand, if necessary, but that was about it. The others had no problem helping him light his smokes and bring him food and drink, and he only accepted the help with a few growls. Their group all just settled down for the night in a tavern, as this town appears to have some work Sam was desperate for and so the others had decided to stay. Horne said it was probably for the better since he sensed a storm coming. Red even agreed it was probably best to stay somewhere with a roof over their heads. Faraday didn't think anything of it, remembering the last storm and figured that this time will be different. He would be under a roof instead of a tent and there would be lamps and especially Matilda. He would be fine. He was sure of it.

That night, Matilda woke up when it was still dark out and there was loud thunder rolling outside. Behind her, she felt someone tossing and turning, restless. Flipping over, Tilda felt around blindly in the dark to reach Faraday, and he startles a little when she catches his arm. He had been covering his ears with his hands, desperate to block out the sounds of explosions and gunfire. He grunts when she settled her body against his back, her arm wrapped around him and tight against his chest.

The next morning, he doesn't talk about what happened the night before. In fact, he doesn't talk at all. He doesn't make it far before sitting up at the edge of the bed, staring at the wall, unresponsive. Matilda worried, trying to figure out what was wrong and what she could do to help, but when he didn't respond to anything, she gave up for the moment and went downstairs, unsettled.

Heading downstairs, Matilda found Goodnight at the bar, smoking a cigar and enjoying a drink. Trying to lift up her own spirits, she couldn't help but try to tease, "A little early for a drink, ain't it, Goody?"

"Miss Crawford, good morning to you," the Cajun tipped his hat and smiled, "And I'm afraid that the drink is for the nerves. God's medicine you see."

"Horne would be proud," she grinned.

"Don't tell him I said that," the two of them laughed all the while he looked over her shoulder, "And where's your gentleman this morning, if you can even call him that?"

"Um... he's still in his room," she decided to say, suddenly remembering why she was worried earlier and ducked her head, deciding that she needed a drink as well and put a word in with the bartender. 

Goodnight must have noticed her unease and observed what might be the problem, nonchalantly shrugging, "Awful storm last night, wouldn't you say?"

She eyes him from the side, seeing the knowing look on his face and sighing. It's hopeless to keep anything from Goodnight, especially with a situation like this. Tilda knew that if anyone could relate and possibly help, it would be him.

"The worst. Any advice?"

"Draw the curtains close, but just enough for the golden sunset to seep into the room. Fetch a basin full of warm water and a washcloth, and either rest it over his eyes or in his hands. Absolutely never, under any circumstances, leave him alone in a room, or at least not by himself with weapons."

She shivers at the thought and nods, noting to herself to head back upstairs before going about her day. She was so deep in thought, she didn't even see Billy walk over until he was in her sights. Looking up, Matilda saw him eyeing her suspiciously. Just by looking between her shrinking expression and Goody's usual says-it-all look, Billy could put two and two together. He comes to the same conclusion as the woman and his partner and without a word, he reaches into his pocket and hands her some of his Opium cigarettes.

"They help on the worst days," was all he says.

Matilda looked down at the cigarettes in her hand then back up at Billy. Her face must have been a look of dread because both he and Goody wore sympathetic expressions towards her. She sighed, knowing that this was just the way things are now, until, hopefully, they get better.

"Thank you," she whispered to the two of them before gulping down her drink and heading back up the stairs.

When she got back into the room, Faraday was right where she had left him. He sat in his breeches and undershirt at the edge of the bed, staring at the wall ahead, the sun shining on his back from the window behind him. Matilda made sure he wasn't looking when she found the perfect hiding place for both of their guns, then she went to ask for someone to heat up some water and a towel. When she got the basin, Tilda soaked the washcloth and rung it out a little, walking over and placing it in his hands. He didn't so much as blink at her when she approached him. Sighing to herself, she leaned forward and lingered a small kiss on his forehead before she reluctantly pulled away and headed back out to begin her day.

Throughout the day, Matilda would go and check in on Faraday. She switched out the cloth when it got cold and didn't ask of him what else she could do before leaving again. She would bring food up, but when she came back, she usually found the food untouched.

By the end of the day, Matilda and the other men she traveled with had supper together, having a light conversation, but she was sure they all noticed that their usual gambling man wasn't sitting between her and Vas. It didn't feel the same to any of them. When she headed up the stairs after the others retired to bed, she opened the door, and let out a breath she had been holding.

Faraday had finally moved. Matilda noticed the washcloth in the basin on the table, and Faraday was now lying down, back towards her and facing the window, the sunset lighting up his midsection as it peered through the curtains. He had buried his face into her pillow, and she smiled a little to herself, relieved with this tiny victory.

Tilda fetches some more warm water then brought the newly rinsed washcloth with her to bed. Seeing his eyes closed, she rests the cloth on his forehead before walking around the bed towards the window. Drawing the curtains to a small crack, the sunlight now glowed a stream of gold into the darkening room. She strips herself from her outer clothing then laid down next to Faraday, scooting closer to him for warmth.

There weren't any more thunderstorms that night, but she woke up yet again in the middle of the night when she felt someone stir next to her. Before she could flip over and check on Faraday, his arm wraps around her waist and pulls her back against his warm chest. Sighing, the mattress around Matilda relaxes around her figure and with the weight of her eyes and the body behind her draws her to drift back to sleep. And when she woke up the next morning, Faraday was still asleep, his face relaxed and peaceful.

~~~~~~~~~

But even though Matilda was able to ease some of the drastic changes in Faraday, she couldn't control all of them.

The next night, Faraday was back to his normal self like nothing ever happened. Tilda woke up that day to him kissing every inch of her face and then he was back to the grind of being Josh Faraday, the group's charming Irish gambler. Tilda was relieved to have him back, and by the looks on everyone's faces when Faraday came down to have breakfast that morning, they were relieved as well. But she wishes Faraday would talk to her about his demons. It would probably make both of them feel better.

She watches him carefully all throughout the day up until day turned into night and they were all out enjoying themselves at the saloon. Faraday, yet again, found a card game to take part in and even though she enjoyed watching him cheat thirty dollars off an old man who barely looked at his hand in order to watch Matilda, she was getting bored and needed a change of scenery. Looking across the room, she noticed Billy and Vas sharing smokes since V currently couldn't do much with his arm still in a sling. 

Watching him and Billy smoking made her crave some tobacco herself, so she plants her feet back on the floor after propping up on Faraday's chair and stood up. She gently pulled the hair on the back of his neck as she passed by and he flashes her a quick smile before she made a beeline for the bar, grabbing a couple of extra drinks before taking them over to Vas and Rocks.

"Gentlemen," she greets with a grin before setting her drinks in front of them, "Could you trade a cigar for a glass?"

"I think we could work with that, _Morena_ ," Vasquez grins before scooting over and pulling out a chair with his good arm. Billy nods to her and slides an ashtray over before taking one of her drinks, knocking it back in one go. Goodnight, Sam, Horne, and Red Harvest join them and they bring even more smokes and drinks. The group starts exchanging stories for some alcohol and cigars, laughing occasionally and especially when Goody told an embarrassing tale about Sam.

"-So his horse chucks him off and he lands face-first into the mud! And let me tell you, Sam Chisolm, duly sworn warrant office, looks nothing like intimidation with mud that smells like cow shit smothered along his face and down the right side of his body."

Horne howled while slapping his knee, bumping the entire table and making their drinks slosh around in their glasses. Sam is grinning to himself while staring down at his drink and Goody slaps his shoulder while laughing, unable to finish the story.

Tilda and Vasquez are chuckling alongside Horne as they sit side to side, her legs now propped up on his chair. Matilda could feel a delightful buzz of liquor running through her blood, flushing her cheeks by the time she heard shouting across the saloon along with Faraday's curses, causing her to look up at the ceiling and groan, " _Now_ what?"

"Possible danger. You know Faraday," Goodnight retorts and watches the chaos ensue. 

"I think we need to stop coming to saloons if this becomes a pattern," Matilda snorts as she follows his gaze to watch everyone from the card table spring up and choose sides, the table falling over through all the shouting and threats, drinks and cards spilling all over the floor. She watches Faraday sport a mocking grin among the crowd of arguing men and the mockery goes as far as having a gun pulled on him.

Matilda's entire body turned cold and the rest of her friends around her spring into action at the sight of the weapon. She and Vasquez are slower to join them but that was because Vas needs to be aware of his injury and Matilda was aware that the man holding a gun to Faraday's face was the old gentlemen he was cheating money off of. With that in mind, Matilda had an idea.

"Hold my vest."

Vas looked over his shoulder and just barely caught Matilda's vest with his good hand, staring at the piece of clothing in confusion before looking up and glaring at the sight of Tilda starting to unbutton the front of her shirt, "What the Hell are you doing??"

"What I do best," she unbuttons the shirt to the point it was done up just above her bellybutton then started rolling up both sleeves to the crease of her elbow. Then she fluffed her hair out to appear wavy and straightened herself out with a fixed expression, "Persuading."

Sam had others things to worry about instead of wondering what Vas and Matilda were up to as he quickly came to Faraday's aid. He couldn't stand between the gambler and the old man since the latter had his gun pointed right into Faraday's chest, but Sam stood as close as possible to Faraday's side while making direct eye contact with his assailant, "Now, now. What seems to be the problem here?"

"This sonuvabitch cheated me out of my money!"

Sam frowns and looks over his shoulder for confirmation, "Faraday?"

He didn't need to say anything, really, if his grin had anything to go by, "I might have done a bit of cheating, Sam."

"God give me strength," Sam could hear Horne praying somewhere behind him.

Sam sighs, sending Faraday a warning glare before quickly looking back to the old man with the gun, "Alright, listen up. The man's drunk and he likes to gamble with his life every once in a while," Faraday makes an affronted noise by that, "Why don't we all just calm down and think civilized? I'm sure Faraday would be more than happy to give you back your money now that he knows ya mean business."

Faraday snorts, "What business?"

Sam didn't know who gave him the patience of a saint, but it was suddenly wearing thin with his gambling friend's attitude, "Faraday--"

"That's _it_ , you fuckin--"

Sam hears the click of the pistol and felt his heart drop simultaneously. People around them in the saloon started screaming in fear of the trigger being pulled. Before the old man could even come up with the thought in his anger, a woman's hand drapes around his shoulder from behind and taps lightly on his chest.

"Hey, sugar," Matilda's voice sounded nothing like her, all smooth and warm like honey or wax as she almost spoke into the old man's shoulder to draw his attention. Sam's eyes widen, impressed by how quickly the old man almost appeared to forget Faraday in order to get an eyeful of Tilda, his jaw of white whiskers slacking as he looked her up and down.

Faraday shifts anxiously beside Sam as he watches his woman easily distract the man by taking off her vest and unbuttoning her shirt down far too much for Faraday's comfort. Her smile was foreign, sultry and wet while she looked up at the old man through her eyelashes, "I've been watching you all night. And I know you've been watching me..." She whispers into his ear, lightly running circles down his chest, "Why don't you let my friend here keep your money and you and I can call it a night and go upstairs for free?"

The overconfident arrogance Faraday had put on a front was now slowly crumbling down to irritation and rage, his eyes now narrowed at the old man and waiting for his answer. The old man barely even ponders and barely even looks at Faraday as he smiles, all with yellow and rotting teeth, "Well, that sounds like a deal, darling."

The moment he lowers his gun, Sam makes a grab for it and successfully wrenches the pistol out of the old man's hand. After he successfully unloads it and watches the bullet casings fall to the ground, he looks up with a tired sigh, "Does he have any more, Matilda?"

The hand Matilda had wrapped around to pat the old man's chest comes up with another, smaller pistol the old man kept in his vest, hidden away. She tosses it at Sam and when he catches it, she steps away from the man to stand among her group, facing his putrid face, who looks downright enraged that she tricked him. Sam empties that gun out before looking back up towards the old man, "Now that our minds are much clearer than before, let's discuss terms like civilized people."

"Not a very civilized establishment," Faraday muttered under his breath.

"First order of business. Matilda, take Faraday upstairs."

Faraday nearly sputters and is ready to snap at Sam before Matilda is in his space and pushing him backward with a hand on his chest, " _Faraday_ , walk," she hisses under her breath, his skin feeling prickly under her glare as she looked up at him, "Get the _fuck_ up those stairs."

She's shaking violently, either from rage or adrenaline he wasn't sure, but Faraday didn't feel exactly ready to find out. He swallows down his pride and turns to walk away, Matilda keeping him in front of her with a hand on his back in case he tried to turn back around. He curses under his breath, muttering about how he didn't need to be treated like a child as he finally gets to the stairs, stomping up two at a time with Tilda right behind him. She only turns back for a moment to lock eyes with Sam, the warrant officer nodding in return.

"Go. We'll take it from here."

She nods in response and gently shoves Faraday this time to get him up the stairs faster, and he nearly growls at the action. Once up the stairs, Tilda quickly directs him to their room and it didn't take much to push him inside. Matilda silently closes their door and locks it as he gripped his hair and pulled to the point it hurt while growling irritably, "I need to get out of this town! We all need to find a job to do! I'm going to lose my goddamn mind just trying to--"

Faraday nearly went for his gun the moment he felt himself get pushed up against the desk but catches himself just in time to comprehend Matilda furiously kissing him. He's immediately silenced and he'll always explain how he instantly settled his hands around her waist to catch himself from falling, not because he really wanted to. Matilda's hands are everywhere and Faraday found it hard to keep track of them to the point where he would just give up and kiss her back. For a while, she was holding his hair, then her hands moved to cup his jawline, blunt nails slightly scratching at his scruff to the point where it tingled, then they moved down to start unbuttoning his vest, pushing the flaps aside to get to his shirt.

Something goes off in the back of Faraday's head and he pulls away, both of them gasping for air but she's still trying and failing to disrobe him. 

"'Don't want to be doing this if you're only doing it to distract me," he tries mustering out with a stern tone, but it falters once she's got the first button undone.

She hums triumphantly at her small success before tilting her head up at him with all but innocent eyes, "Everyone loves a good distraction."

She leans forward to kiss him again, then moving her lips to his neck, then up to the junction behind his ear. He could feel his eyes threatening to close but refrains from shuddering in anticipation, almost forgetting her hands were still working on his shirt. 

Almost.

He grabs her wrists gently, "Tilda, I mean it. I don't want to hurt you," he says with a stronger tone in his voice now that he found some restraint.

Matilda is as clever as she is fast, leaning her body between his legs since he was still pressed against the desk, forcing him to suck in a sharp breath. She pulls away from kissing his neck to whisper softly in his ear, "You won't hurt me. You're incapable of doing so. And even if you did, I would tell you."

"But--"

Shushing him, her hands pause on his shirt momentarily so that she could look him the eye with the most sincere expression she could muster. The confidence and warmth in her eyes made his own mind swim with delight as she leans her forehead against his, "I want this. Don't you?"

Faraday felt as though he was fighting against an invisible wall as she had finally gotten his entire shirt unbuttoned. Pushing his vest over his shoulders and then coaxing his shirt over his head, Matilda then takes her time to observe his torso more thoroughly, her fingers tracing over his canvas.

He didn't need to look down to know that she was tracing every one of his scars visible to her. There were a few obvious ones, such as the several bullet wounds that scattered over his chest, then the long, jagged marks that some even crossed his entire torso from one side of his shoulder all the way down to the opposite hip from where he had been stitched back together. There were a couple of smaller scuffs as to where some shrapnel from the Gatling gun had once made their home in Faraday's body, but they were small enough to appear like cat scratches.

Her fingers trail over the scars in response to her whispers, "You just love it whenever someone points a gun in your face, don't you? Well, I don't. I look away for two minutes and already you got men trying to kill ya."

By the time she was done tracing them all, Faraday had forgotten how to breathe, even going as far as feeling his mouth run dry when she leaned down to kiss one of the jagged scars that ran over his heart. Her lips moving around, Matilda finds the time to kiss every scar she could visibly see. She ignores the way his heart stops at each action for his pride's sake, but when she moves to kiss her favorite scar, the one on his jawline, that was it for Faraday.

The invisible wall had broken and Faraday finally leaned forward to capture her lips with his. She smiled triumphantly against him as he took over the kiss, pushing away from the desk to draw closer to her with his arms around her. He mumbles into her lips, "Can't help it. I live off of it."

"Off of what?" She gently bit his lip, "You live off of nearly dying? Fighting?"

"The excitement," he simply answers, his fingers lightly dance over the skin of her collarbone and she shivers against him.

"I can think of a lot of other safer ways to live off of the excitement."

They pause for a moment and even though Matilda was still trapped in his embrace, her hands were able to push themselves up between their pressed bodies and work their way to unbuttoning her own shirt, her eyes never leaving his as she does so, their breaths heavy against each other's skin.

After that little charade that happened down at the saloon, Matilda already had most of her shirt unbuttoned by the time she had gotten it fully unfastened. Pulling it out from being tucked in her pants, Matilda pulled away from Faraday to shrug her shirt fully off her shoulders, letting the cloth fall to the ground and expose her fully to the night air crawling through their bedroom window. Faraday's eyes watched her hungrily, his gaze trailing down the curve of her breasts and the dip of her stomach, making her skin rise under such an intense stare. Letting out a shaky breath, Matilda feels her lips turn up as she reaches over to curl a finger around the length of his gun belt, tugging the small piece and pulling him with her. When their bodies collide, she flips them over and pushes him down onto the bed, the two of them laughing slightly under their breaths as she carefully crawls over him.

Faraday's laugh is silenced, however, when Matilda leans down to kiss him again, her hair falling down and shielding the two of them in a small crown of dirty blonde. As they kiss with more fervent heat and desperation, Faraday's hands trail up to feel her warm skin under his fingerpads. She shivers every time he touches a sensitive spot and he makes a note in the back of his head as to which parts release a soft sigh from her lips, setting his personal goal as to getting to know her body as well as his own. Her hands that were momentarily distracted now hurry to get his gun belt unfastened, followed by her own as she carefully placed them wrapped around the bedpost. Sitting up in the bed, Faraday keeps her firmly settled on his lap, both of her legs on either side of his hips. He kisses her more forcefully this time, not giving her time to breathe as he works his way down to her neck, Matilda had to even bite her lip to keep any noise from escaping her when his lips lingered over the burn scar on her neck that she earned from her ex-husband's hot poker. 

When he realized that the thought of that scar might have her start thinking some dark thoughts, he tries pushing them away by reaching down to capture one of her buds with his lips, successfully distracting her when Matilda slides her pelvis against his at the sensation, whimpering in delight as she tries catching her breath. The movement startles Faraday and causes him to growl against her skin, sending a wonderful vibration throughout her body and driving her to shiver. 

"For claiming to be..." she wets her dry lips once she has control of her breathing, "The world's greatest lover, you sure know how to take your time."

She doesn't regret saying that as one of his hands reach up to tweak her other free nipple in retaliation, her back arching to try and bring herself impossibly closer to him. She grips his shoulders to the point where her fingers dig uncomfortably into his skin and so he unlatches himself from her breast to peer up at her, his half-lidded eyes blinking slowly as he smiled.

"That's _exactly_ why I'm the world's greatest lover."

She laughs in spite of it and he grins triumphantly. His hands trailing up and down her back, his fingers eventually slide into the seam of her pants and when she gets the intention, Matilda lifts off of Faraday's lap and goes to stand in front of him, frantically trying to get her boots and pants off. He's also in a similar predicament, leaning back to quickly undo his fly, lifting his hips up to push his pants down his thighs and to his ankles. He sits up and leans back down to pull off his boots and finally free himself of his pants and when that ridiculous task was done, he looks up and feels his heart stop beating at the sight in front of him.

The moonlight coming from outside the window practically glows against Matilda's naked skin, igniting something down in his stomach while looking at every inch of her body, from the top of her head where a scar on her temple lay to a faint rope burn around her ankle from her ex-husband. He sees a different, much older bullet wound on her arm that he faintly remembered was from her father and before he could think on it any longer, she pushes him down onto the bed again and crawls back over him, her inner thighs had a nice, rough feeling against his skin from her many travels on horseback. She leans back to watch him possessively, biting her lip while letting his hands trail up her waist until they pause. When she tilts her head to wonder why he stopped, he doesn't meet her gaze as he eyes the bullet wound on her right hip. He runs his thumb over it, not exactly glaring at the scar but after some time, Matilda leans down to run her own hand over the exact same scar Faraday had in the exact same spot on his body. On the right-hand side of each of their hips, the pair had similar gunshot wounds, both of which were earned while fighting for two towns who couldn't fight for themselves. Granted, McCann and Griffin were two completely different bastards, but all the same; bastards who thought they could come between the Gambler and Miss Persuasion. 

Matilda rakes over Faraday's body until she finds his lips again, grinding down against his pelvis to create that delicious friction that sends both of their heads spiraling. Their moans are captured in their many kisses until they have to reluctantly pull away for air, Faraday barely taking a moment to inhale before leaning further down to leave a trail of scorched kisses down Tilda's neck. She shivers above him, biting her lip at the sensation of his scruff scratching patterns down her skin. When he couldn't reach any further down because of the angle, he grips her waist and flips them over in such a quick and steady motion that Tilda wouldn't have been able to fight her way out of it. But it was not like she wanted to as Faraday settled himself hovering over her. He was a solid, comforting pressure and a strong, immovable build pressing down onto her that only drove her to bite her bottom lip in delight. Faraday smiles down at her before going in for another kiss, gently taking her now swollen lip between his teeth and pulling. 

There was a warmth spreading in her stomach, and Tilda tries to chase it by bucking her hips up at him, earning a playful growl he let out into her mouth. His fingers trail down her body, from the junction of her neck, the valley of her breasts, to the plain of her stomach, sending tingling sensations in her skin as she gasps into his kiss. When he reaches lower, her whole body caught on fire.

She pushed away from the kiss to gasp and shudder. The sound that left her lips was soft and beautiful, a chill rising up on the back of Faraday's neck urged him to touch her again to chase that sound. When she gasped again it was louder and her eyes squeezed shut. Her hands slipped from his damp back and fell into the bedsheets, clinging onto anything to keep her grounded. He leaned into her neck to catch a droplet of sweat that had slid from her forehead, his fingers now moving faster against her velvet heat, her whole body beginning to stutter in anticipation.

The forced out moan barely leaving her mouth led little to the imagination as to how much she liked that, and the noise he made in response was muffled by the skin of her shoulder when he gently bit down. 

"Faraday... _please_..." Matilda whines while arching her back, trying to drive her point across with a sharp intake of air.

He slowly retracted his hand from her and settled his elbows on either side of her head to look down at her. Normally, he'd say that this is her last chance to walk out, but... "We'll stop the moment you want me to," ends up spilling out of his mouth instead the moment he caught sight of her half-lidded eyes and swollen lips.

Her gasps die down while slowly fixing her eyes on him, searching for something. Anything. She tries finding some sort of lie, a joke, anything but the flushed, possessed, and the infatuated green-eyed gaze he bestowed onto her.

She licked her lips and blinked, her mind trying to think up of something to say but was otherwise occupied with the taste of him on her tongue. She swallowed it down while whispering a quiet, nearly forbidden word. It was so strange to say out loud, even for her. She has never said it before.

"Joshua..."

The muscles in his arms froze around her head, but she didn't want to look anywhere but at him at that moment. What was initially an astonished expression on his face slowly turned into the widest grin imaginable before lowering himself back into her space, capturing her lips. After that, it was like he had gone mad for her. Mad for her taste, her smell, her moans, everything. Even when he had her in his arms at long last, he still wanted to push forward as he felt he didn't have enough of her. 

Her hands slowly curl around the sides of his head and tugs a little on his hair, forcing Faraday to follow the motion in fear of balding. It's enough to give her leverage as she's able to flip them back over again. She climbed on top of him and kissed him for good measure. Sitting back up on her knees, she took his erection in her hand and slowly guided him to slide inside of her, both of them taking long swallows of air while staring up at the ceiling. He was now in her further than his fingers before and she chased for that wonderful ache in the pit of her stomach. Rolling her hips, she pants up at the ceiling while his hands navigate up to cup her chest, kneading her sore buds in between his thumbs and palms.

That motion alone caused her head to swim so to slow it down she grabbed his wrists, pulling them away from her body as she leaned forward. She held his wrists down into the mattress and he fought very little in attempts to break free, tilting his head up to try and kiss her instead. She rewards him with the kiss but takes a step further by moaning straight into his mouth. He bucks his hips up in retaliation and she pulls away to gasp in surprise at the feeling of being delightfully split in two. She pushed her hips back down and they crash back onto the mattress, both of them laughing under their breaths with their noses brushing. 

They dance like this, picking the pace up then slowing back down. Her breaths become short prayers after some time and when he goes to reach up for her, she doesn't fight back and instead lets his hands slip through her fingers and hold her for dear life. The bed creaks and her whimpers disperse. By the time she comes, she's worshipping his name through dry lips and soon enough he pulls out and comes, too, biting his lip to keep back the groan in his throat. Matilda crumbles into him like sand, melting into his chest in exhaustion, unable to move despite her aching knees begging her to do so. They lay like that for a while, one of his hands smoothing up and down the damp skin of her spine as they catch their breath.

Eventually, Faraday maneuvers them to lay side by side, using his arm as a pillow for Tilda's head, one of her legs still wrapped around his hip. Over a few moments of comfortable silence, Matilda could feel her eyes grow heavy, but she didn't want to fall asleep and have this moment be ruined yet.

"You're not vocal at all."

Faraday already had his eyes closed and comically opened one to stare down at her, "Huh?"

"You told Vas that you had a reputation of being vocal."

She could feel his laugh rumble deep in his chest with her hand placed over his heart and she smiles to herself, her fingers lightly playing with the small chest hairs resided there. Her smile fades as her mind remembers why they're in bed so early in the night in the first place and she burrows closer to Faraday, "You're an idiot."

He hums, keeping both of his eyes closed this time but tilts his head to rest his nose in her hair, "That's your problem now."

"Faraday."

"Tilly."

"I hate you. Ya know that, right? I mean, I genuinely do hate you."

"Uh-huh," he agrees half-heartedly, smiling to himself, "Sure you do."

"You could at least promise not to keep on egging people into killing you."

"Where's the fun in that?"

"You get to stay alive, for one," Matilda's hand stops soothing his chest while muttering to herself, "And I don't have to see you die again."

Faraday pauses at that, opening his eyes and staring up at the ceiling for many moments. Matilda considers just going to sleep after a while and snuggles in closer for warmth once the breeze outside the window comes crawling in. She can feel that unconscious void taking over her body, ready to float away from the world as her eyes close. The last thing she remembers was Faraday whispering,

"I wouldn't mind living if you are." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The moon outside  
> Too bright, those blinds, yeah let's just keep them closed  
> You know, my hands they know where to go, to find your fingertips  
> Trace them back to your lips, take you on a trip, flip that switch  
> Make my world go black, hit me like a heart attack, knock me flat on my back, yeah  
> Just keep doing that, that thing you're doing there, brush me with your hair, I swear  
> I don't know how long that I can last  
> Make my world go black, black  
> Make my world go black, black  
> Like your dress on the floor, yeah the one you don't need anymore,  
> Black like a sky with no stars, just find me and fall into my arms  
> And make my world go black, hit me like a heart attack, knock me flat on my back, yeah  
> Just keep doing that, that thing you're doing there, brush me with your hair, I swear  
> I don't know how long that I can last  
> Make my world go black  
> Make my world go black  
> I don't wanna see a thing, baby I just wanna feel your touch, feel your rush  
> I don't wanna see a thing, I just wanna feel your love  
> Make my world go black, hit me like a heart attack, knock me flat on my back, yeah  
> Just keep doing that, that thing you're doing there, brush me with your hair, I swear  
> I don't know how long that I can last  
> Make my world go black, black  
> Make my world go black  
> Make my world go black  
> I don't wanna see a thing  
> I just wanna feel your touch, feel your rush  
> Black...  
> Black...

**Author's Note:**

> **Title is lyrics from the song Black by Dierks Bentley**
> 
> **Originally from Wattpad... don't let that discourage you XDDD**


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